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CONTRACT Tk 

COMMERCE CO.VIM; 

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MAY 13 189S 


AND 


OTPIIEIR, PAPERS 




RELATING TO THE 



' CAllCA RAILROAD 


.-I 


Peoria, III., Sept. 1st, 1872. 


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TRANSCRIPT PRINT, COR. ADAMS AND FULTON STS. 

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THE 



CONTRACT 


AND 


OTIKIEIR, PAPE IR, S 


RELATING TO THE 


CAUCA RAILROAD. 


Peoria, III., Sept. 1st, 1872. 



PEO RIA: 

TRANSCRIPT PRINT, COR. ADAMS AND FULTON STS. 

1872 . 
















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EXTRACTS FROM HOLTON’S NEW GRANADA. 

Pages 541-2. 

“ I love the Granadan race. These pages testify to an uninterrupted series 
of kind acts of them toward me—kindness that I can never repay. 
I can hardly mention a single reasonable request of mine neg¬ 
lected—not one refused. Even many unreasonable ones, as I afterward 
knew them to be, were granted, often at an inconvenience that I greatly re¬ 
gretted. The authorities, too, have been as kind as private individuals. 
All sorts of documents have been furnished me, even by offices that had to 
send to Bogota to replace those spared me. Nothing has been withholden 
me that a traveler could ask. 

“ I have not made them the returns I would have wished. I would have 
gladly pointed them more directly to a purer religion that can remedy the 
evils they are struggling with) but while I could profess to be a communi¬ 
cant of a Protestant church, circumstances rendered it unadvisable to do 
more. And now, in enlisting the sympathies of our own people, I am doing 
what I can. 

“ To tell the truth of them, I have been obliged to speak of their faults 
and deficiencies. But, after all, I here boldly declare the Granadinos a 
highly moral people. I speak not of the Scotch and English standard of 
morality; that is not fair. They are of a religion highly adverse in its in¬ 
stitutions to the laws of chastity, and in this they must be compared with 
Catholic countries. Now grant that the proportion of illegitimate births be 
33 per cent., and I think it must be less, then it is the same as that of Paris. 
In Brussels it is 35 per cent.; in Munich, 48; in Vienna, 51 ; and, I be¬ 
lieve, in sacred Rome, far worse. Suppose, then, that New Granada is as 
defective as Paris, the most moral of these cities. You must recollect that, 
when Paris was yet a great city, unmarried priests, corrupt monks, and un¬ 
restrained civil and military officers were forming a new code of decency 
and morality for simple, half-naked Indian converts and subjects. What 
marvel if it be as loose as that of Paris ? 

“ Again, as to the crimes against life, I suppose, in all the nation, there 
are not a fifth as many murders as in New York city alone ! Probably a 
single year in California has witnessed as many murders as have been perpe¬ 
trated in New Granada, among two millions and a quarter of all races, since 
it has had its place among nations. I have more than once had to blush for 
the ruffianism of the scum of our nation, like which nothing can be found 
in the very worst population of New Granada. But again to figures. I 
cannot estimate the murders in New Granada at more than 3 per million per 
annum. The commitments for murder in England are 4 per million; in 
Belgium, 18; Ireland, 19. Sardinia, 20; France, 34; Austria, 36; Lom¬ 
bardy, 46 Tuscany,^;56; Bavaria, 68; Sicily, 90; the dominion of the 
Pope, 113 ; and Naples, 174.” 


EXTRACTS FROM SPECIAL REPORT. 

“Some ask, will tlie railroad have anything to do ? I will answer this by 
giving the experience of a gentleman residing in Alton. When the Chica¬ 
go, Alton and St. Louis road was being built, this gentleman, in order to 
convince the projectors of that enterprise that it could never pay, made a 
calculation of the probable business of the road. He took an exact account 
of all passengers carried by the stage, and of all loaded teams passing for 
one month. He then figured our the number of trains that would be re¬ 
quired to do the business, and showed that one passenger train, of three cars 
once in two months, and one freight train a month would be ample for the 
business. This gentleman showed me this calculation in August, 1871, while 
we were riding on the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad. On that same 
day it took fifty-two trains to do the business.” 


PREFACE. 


The State of Cauca has a half million of inhabitants. The exports 
and imports of nearly a million of people will pass through Buenaven¬ 
tura when this road is completed. The people are peaceable, polite, 
and reasonably industrious. To obtain the necessaries of life, labor is 
not a necessity. The earth produces so wonderfully that rewards are 
offered even to indolence. 

These people have no market, although it is only about forty miles 
from the heart of the Cauca Valley to the Pacific. But these forty 
miles are almost impassable. Everything introduced or exported has 
to be carried upon the backs of men and mules, or in small canoes. 
Easy communication with the sea would give to the Cauca the markets 
of the world. She would at once begin to export Indigo, Chocolate, 
Coffee, Bubber, Peruvian Bark, Iron, Coal, Silver and Gold, and in 
fact all the tropical and semi-tropical productions of the earth. 

These facts having been brought to the attention of several gentle¬ 
men of this country, they determined to visit the valley of the Cauca 
and see whether communication with the Pacific by railroad was 
practicable. They found the inhabitants anxious for a railroad, and 
the General Government (the United States of Colombia), willing to 
aid the enterprise, not only by liberal legislation, but by material aid. 
A Company was at once formed under the laws of the State of Illi¬ 
nois, called the “ Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company.” 
This Company authorized its representatives, Messrs. David B. Smith 
and Frank B. Modica, to enter into a contract with the United States 
of Colombia, for the construction of a railroad from the Biver Cauca 
to the port of Buenaventura on the Pacific—a distance of thirty-eight 
miles, in a straight line. A contract was accordingly made (a copy of 
which is given in this pamphlet), between the United States of 
Colombia and the Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 
An examination of the terms of this contract will satisfy any one that 
they are as liberal as could be asked. 

But would there be any business upon such a road ? 



ly. 


PREFACE. 


For many hundreds of miles along the coast there is no coal. At 
Cali, on the banks of the Cauca, one of the termini of the proposed 
road, is one of the largest deposits of bituminous coal in the world. 
The vein that is now being worked is ten feet in thickness, and 
many veins are much thicker. This coal is of the very best quality. 
It makes excellent gas and coke, and is almost entirely free from 
sulphur. It has been thoroughly tested. The coal traffic itself 
would be very important, and would furnish a large and lucrative 
business for the road. Coal could be furnished for the State of 
Panama, and all along the coast as far as San Francisco, while South 
of Buenaventura the market would also be good. Iron ore of excel¬ 
lent quality is exceedingly abundant. All the productions of the 
tropics are found in Cauca, and these could and would be sent to the 
coast, and shipped to the North Pacific coast, and by Panama and 
Aspinwall to the North Atlantic. The time from Cali to New York 
would not exceed twelve days, so that the most delicate fruits of the 
valleys of the Andes would bear transportation to any part of the 
United States; and by means of the contemplated railroad, we would 
furnish nearly a million of people with the inventions of our country. 
This would of itself create an immense business. 

As soon as the people of Cauca find a market for their surplus, they 
will invest the price of such surplus in the elegancies and conveniences 
of life. These would be imported from the North, and by way of the 
Cauca Railroad. 

Shut out from the sea by the Andes, lies this valley of the Cauca. 
It is called the Italy of America. No other portion of the world is 
so beautiful, so healthy, and so fertile. It is a little world within 
itself, producing everything that is produced. Every flower blossoms, 
and every fruit ripens there. The climate is perfection. At Cali the 
mercury never falls below 65°, and never rises above 86°. The valley 
is three thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is lifted, as it 
were, out of the burning embrace of the torrid zone into the lap of 
the temperate. No country can be healthier than this. Here you 
have the tropics without their heat, and the summer of the North 
without its change. There is not in this delightful valley so great a 
change in the whole year as we experience here every day. And yet 
every variety of climate is within easy reach. The snow peaks are 
but a few hours away, and the climates of the whole world are upon 
every mountain's side. Unlike the countries above and below, it is 


PREFACE. 


V. 


exempt from earthquakes and tornadoes—no lives having ever been 
lost by either. 

The Government is republican in form, and the people are more 
prosperous than ever before. A system of common schools has been 
established, and is exceedingly popular. Catholicism is losing its 
power, and the most perfect religious liberty is guaranteed to all. The 
national credit has been firmly established, and the revenues are suffi¬ 
cient to defray current expenses, satisfy the demands of the Nation's 
creditors, and materially aid the construction of railroads. 

Every day this country is rising in importance. The Government 
is aiding internal improvements, and holding out all the inducements 
within its power to hasten the construction of railroads, canals and 
manufactories. Every element of wealth is found in the United States 
of Colombia. All the precious metals—gold, silver, and platinum; 
all the useful—iron, lead, tin and copper; all the useful and beautiful 
woods; all the cereals—wheat, corn, (two crops a year), rye, oats, and 
barley. All the vegetables that exist; all the fruits—apples, cherries, 
plums, peaches, apricots, oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, grapes, and 
all others which you can think. Sugar cane is a perpetual crop. Rice 
grows in abundance; tobacco equal to that of Cuba, coffee not inferior 
to the best of Arabia, indigo unsurpassed in India or Gautemala, tea, 
indigenous, of most excellent quality, are all produced in the valley of 
the Cauca. In short, everything grows there except railroads. When 
they are built the country will be complete. 

There never has been a better opportunity for the investment of 
capital. The land donated to the Company (two million and a half 
acres), will be of great value the moment the road is completed, and 
will bring in the market five times the original cost of the whole 
work. 

We have published this little pamphlet simply for the purpose of 
calling attention of capitalists to this magnificent project, satisfied 
that no one can give it a careful perusal without coming to the conclu¬ 
sion that wealth will reward the energy that conquers the Andes. 





I 
















Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company, 
President’s Office, 

Peoria, III., September 1st, 1872. 


} 


To Robt. G. Ingersoll , Chas. H. Kingman , Day K. Smith , J. A. 

Modica, and others , Stockholders of the Cauca Yalley Mining and 

Constructing Company , Peoria , III.: 

Gentlemen : I have hastily thrown together the translations and 
remarks contained in this publication, without losing a moment, in 
order that you may, as soon as possible, possess yourselves of the facts 
therein set forth; any further report that you may require, will be 
forthcoming when you demand it. I have collected for the 
Company all the obtainable statistics that I imagined could be of 
any service to it; they can be seen at the Peoria office. I sincerely 
regret that Mr. Modica is not here at this time, as his suggestions 
would undoubtedly prove as valuable to the Company on this occa¬ 
sion, as they have been during the course of the negotiations in Colom¬ 
bia. Very respectfully, yours, &c. 


DAVID R. SMITH. 


















THE 



EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS, ETC. 


EXPLANATORY. 

About the first of December, 1871, the Board of Direc¬ 
tors of the Buenaventura and Cali Railroad Company, 
in Cali, appointed a Commission to treat with Smith 
and Modica for the sale of their road and privileges. 
A contract was drawn up and signed, subject to the 
approval of the Board, and returned December 8th, 
with a report by the Commissioners, from which report 
will be found below a few extracts. Article I. of the 
proposed contract contained, in substance, the follow¬ 
ing: 

The price of everything belonging to the Company is fixed at 
$849,000, which is to be paid as follows, in thirty year seven per cent, 
bonds: 

To the General Government,. $800 000 

“ the State “ . 30 000 

“ T. C. Mosquera,. 11 000 

“ Individual shareholders, who have paid their 

instalments,. 8 000 


Totaly 


$849 000 












Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


The following is the translation of a part of the 
above mentioned report of December 8th, 1871: 

ORIGIN AND MOTIVES OP THIS NEGOTIATION. 

This negotiation had its origin in the patriotic motives of Mr. Jacob 
Jensen, who, aided by certain good sons of this country, made a voy¬ 
age to California, with the object of forming, in the City of San Fran¬ 
cisco, a company to develop the rich mines of coal and iron that exist 
in the suburbs of this city (Cali). 

In California, Mr. Jensen had occasion to become acquainted with 
the distinguished civil engineer, David R. Smith, through honorable 
recommendations of the Columbian Consul and other distinguished 
persons. Once in relation with Mr. Smith, Mr. Jensen presented the 
samples of iron and coal, which were scientifically analyzed, and pro¬ 
nounced to be exceedingly good. Mr. Jensen spoke likewise to Mr. 
Smith of our road to Buenaventura, and the latter gentleman promised 
Mr. Jensen to take both matters into consideration, and endeavor to 
organize a company that would carry out one or both of these enter¬ 
prises ; promising, also, that at the proper time, not very distant, he 
would visit this country. 

Mr. Jensen returned, bringing those hopes which we are now seeing 
realized. Mr. Smith has made his word good; and, owing to his efforts, 
there has been organized a respectable company in the United States, 
for the objects expressed, that have begun their work by sending 
Commissioners, composed of Mr. Smith and the estimable Mr. Frank 
B. Modica, who are among us, and who, having studied the country, 
have resolved to initiate a contract for the construction of a railroad 
from Buenaventura to this city, giving a motive for this publication. 
These antecedents give us the fact that Mr. Smith comes to us an¬ 
nounced and accredited beforehand, by the honorable and patriotic 
J acob J ensen, and assure us that he is not one of the many adventurers 
that present themselves among us from time to time, without creden¬ 
tials of any kind. 

Mr. Smith having known, before leaving California, that a company 
in this city were owners of the exclusive privilege of building a road 
from this city to Buenaventura, as soon as he arrived here, presented 
a memorial to the Board of Directors, proposing the initiation of a 
contract for the purchase of the privilege, and of the part of the road 
already completed, and in view of this memorial, the Board of Direct- 


Extracts from Reports , Etc. 


3 


ors, after long and patient conferences with Smith and Modica, pre¬ 
sented to this Commission the project of a contract that has formed 
the basis of the contract herewith presented. 

•From the time that the Board of Directors, in its session of Feb¬ 
ruary 12th, of the present year, in view of the report of the General 
Superintendent, authorized the Executive Council to contract for a 
railroad from Sucre to the sea, and to negotiate a loan of $250,000 for 
that purpose, the Executive Council has not failed to take some steps 
in the matter, although without obtaining any satisfactory results, and 
the Board of Directors should not fail to take advantage of the arrival 
of Smith and Modica to close the contract that it is already disposed 
to celebrate. 

The grave difficulties that present themselves, from day to day, in 
the completion of the mule road, as it advances towards the coast, the 
clayey nature of the soil, that will always make bad roads in wet 
weather, the scarcity of gravel or stones suitable for macadamizing, the 
excessive rains near the coast, that will render the road impassible 
without macadamizing, and make the expense of keeping it even in 
tolerable repair very great, the great damage that is constantly being 
done to goods in transit, from frequent and unavoidable wettings, the 
rain fall being almost constant between Pureto and the coast, the con¬ 
stantly increasing demands of commerce, and other considerations, 
have generalized the opinion, that it is necessary to move at once for 
the construction of a railroad, even if only for a horse railroad. And it 
is this idea that has been the motive for the two last resolutions of the 
12th of February and the 3d of the current month, and has stimulated 
the Executive Council in the preliminaries for, and this Commission 
in the celebration of, the contract with Smith and Modica, for the con¬ 
struction of a railroad from this city to Buenaventura, and particularly 
that part of the railroad that would connect the extremity of the mule 
road already completed to Sucre, with the sea, &c., &c. 

The whole matter of the transfer of the rights of 
the old Company to the Company represented by 
Smith and Modica, was subsequently placed in the 
hands of the General Government, and the final ar¬ 
rangement is expressed in Article XXVII. of the con¬ 
tract of July 6th, 1872. From some of the documents 
published for and against the enterprise about this time, 
in Cali, we translate the following: 


4 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


FROM A PLACARD OF NOVEMBER 26th, 1871. 

To talk of Liberals and Conservatives in those moments when civil¬ 
ization comes knocking at our doors, called here by the honorable and 
modest patriot, Jacob Jensen, and in the person of the representatives 
of the honorable house of Smith, Modica & Co., of Chicago, that pro¬ 
poses to construct a railroad from this city to Buenaventura, explore 
on a grand scale our mines of iron and coal, is to deny the well known 
axiom that the new world asks only population and capital of the tot¬ 
tering nations of Europe, to realize in its bosom the dream of indefinite 
progress under the imperial banner of social liberty and individual 
rights; and to-day, that we have amongst us the representative of the 
so much needed capital, we must not let slip this occasion to transform 
this paradise lost into a paradise found for the peaceful dwelling place 
of humanity. 

Citizens of Cali! if you wish that our city may become a great 
capital, and the valley of the Cauca the amphitheatre of industry, re¬ 
munerated and remunerative, vote next Sunday for the following list 
of municipal officers, &c., &c. 

FROM A CIRCULAR SIGNED BY NUMEROUS INFLUENTIAL CITIZENS. 

Six years ago, at the time of recommencing the work on the Buena¬ 
ventura road, it was said that this road was about to become a happy 
reality, and this prognostication, inspired by a faith in the 
future of our country, has been in grand part fulfilled. Now we 
are about to give to Cauca the glorious news that their golden dream 
of the conversion of this road into a railroad is about to be realized, 
and the enterprising foreigners that have come with that object in 
view, should receive the favor and assistance of the present Company 
and of the State and National Government. The recommendations 
brought by Messrs. Smith and Modica are exceedingly honorable, and 
these gentlemen represent a company of rich and respectable citizens 
of the North American Union, organized for the purpose of construct¬ 
ing this road, and for exploring the coal and iron mines of the valley. 
But without any such recommendations Messrs. Smith and Modica 
inspire full confidence by the loyalty of their proceedings, by their 
evident aptitude for carrying out the grand enterprise upon which 
they are engaged. It is only necessary to become slightly acquainted 
with them to recognize at once their honorable and dignified character, 
their prudence and tact as men of business, and their practical knowl¬ 
edge of the most minute details of the matter in hand; and further, 


Trans- Continental Routes. 


5 


their manners and education, united with a fine, modest and affable 
bearing, make us perfectly ready and willing to guarantee that they 
are very far from being adventurers, that treat the matter simply as a 
speculation for putting a little money in their pockets without regard 
to the faithful carrying out of the enterprise. They look for and wish 
to make a profitable business for themselves; but if the business 
proves good for them, it will not prove any less good for the country. 
Railroads, more than anything else, tend to raise a country from 
obscurity and poverty to a high grade of prosperity and wealth ; and 
such would be the effect of this railroad to the Cauca more than any 
other railroad to any other country, &c., &c. 

FROM ANOTHER CIRCULAR. 

The simple announcement of the mission of these gentlemen is suf¬ 
ficient to awake in our hearts the most lively and flattering hopes, and 
cause us to anticipate a transcendental industrial future for the Cauca. 
Rapid and cheap communication that will facilitate the exportation of 
our products, is the only method of increasing our internal prosperity 
and of creating a foreign commerce. Of what value is it to us that we 
may produce on the grandest scale, and of the best quality, the most 
valuable articles in the world, if the cost of transportation and the 
humidity of the transit to the coast make the trafic unprofitable, &c. 


TRANS CONTINENTAL ROUTES. 


FROM THE “DIARO DE CUNDINAMARCA,” BOGOTA, MAY 1st, 1872. 


The citizen President of the Union has presented to Congress the 
message that may be read in continuation, together with certain 
a Bases ” agreed upon for the celebration of a contract between the 
Government and the Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company, 
for the construction of a railroad between the port of Buenaventura 
and the river Cauca. 

We do not doubt for an instant that Congress will adopt the ideas of 





6 Gauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

the President, and consequently pass a law giving ample powers to 
him to begin the construction of trans-continental lines for trans¬ 
portation, passing through the central and most populated parts of the 
country, and open for Colombia the most brilliant career of prosperity 
in the immediate future, that it is possible to imagine. 

A railroad starting .from the port of Buenaventura, reaching the 
Cauca River, and following the valley of that river to Medellin, and 
continued from that city (Medellin), following the line explored by 
the Engineer Griffin, to a point on the west bank of the river Magda¬ 
lena, about opposite the mouth of the river Carare, would form, with 
the Lower M agdalena and the Sabanilla Railroad, a magnificent trans¬ 
continental route, that only requires four hundred and fifty miles of 
railroad. 

A railroad starting from the port of Villamizar, on the Zulia, pass¬ 
ing through San Jose de Cucuta, following the line discovered by 
Gonzales Vasquez, between San Jose and Lake Paturia, and from 
there following the line already surveyed from Paturia to the depart¬ 
ment of Soto, and thence crossing the centre of Santander, the terri¬ 
tory of Boyaca, and the port of Cundinamarca, and thus to Bogota, to 
be prolonged from Bogota in two directions, towards the Meta River 
to the east, and towards the Cauca Railroad to the west, crossing the 
territory of Tolima, would form another magnificent trans-continental 
route. And this line would measure, from Zulia to Bogota, 
three hundred and ninety miles, and when extended to Cartago, not 
exceeding six hundred miles, for the distance between Bogota and 
Cartago does not exceed two hundred and ten miles. 

Every line connecting these two lines with each other, and every 
branch line connecting the second (known to the public as the North¬ 
ern Railroad) with the rivers Arauca or Meta, provides a new trans¬ 
continental or inter-oceanic route, opening up immense regions of the 
most fertile and productive territory in the world. A branch starting 
from near Chequinquira, and terminating near the mouth of the river 
Carare, would put the whole of the interior of the Republic in connec¬ 
tion with the route from that point to the port of Buenaventura. This 
branch would be about one hundred and twenty miles long. Chiquin- 
quira would then be at the distance of five hundred and seventy miles 
from the port of Buenaventura. That is to say, within twenty-four hours 
of the Pacific Ocean. We could go from Bogota to Buenaventura in 
twenty-eight hours. We could leave one day at eleven o’clock in the 
morning, and be in Buenaventura on the following day, at four o’clock 


Trans- Continental Routes. 


7 


in the afternoon, after having crossed the northern part of Cundina- 
marca, the western part of Boyaca, the southern part of Santander, 
the valley of the Magdalena, passing through the heart of Antioquia, 
and the valley of the Cauca. 

Let us suppose that the four hundred and fifty miles of railroad be¬ 
tween Buenaventura and the river Magdalena are constructed; also 
the three hundred and ninety between the Comarca de Cucuta and 
Bogota; likewise the one hundred and twenty between Chequinquira 
and the Magdalena, as well as the two hundred and ten between 
Bogota and Cartago; in all, one thousand one hundred and seventy, 
or, in round numbers, twelve hundred miles. 

With twelve hundred miles of railroad built immediately, with the 
aid of the government, all the bad conditions and impediments to the 
country will have disappeared, and the country will attain at once a 
grade of prosperity, order, power, and credit, that will cause it to be 
envied by every other nation on the continent. 

The railroads that are actually under construction in Peru, comprise 
an extension of more than twelve hundred miles; and Peru has not, as 
we have, three millions of inhabitants. Less than our own is the 
number of inhabitants of Switzerland, and they have more than eight¬ 
een hundred miles of railroad. Chili and the Argentine Republic 
will have, within a few days, each, more than twelve hundred miles of 
railroad. If one hundred and fifty thousand people, that inhabit Costa 
Rica, have been capable of constructing one hundred and fifty miles of 
railroad, three millions of people that inhabit Colombia, should be able 
to construct three thousand miles. Does any one think that the popu¬ 
lation of this Republic is less civilized, less industrious, less energetic, 
less intelligent, less educated, and has less spirit than the people of 
that small section of Central America ? 

The United States has thirty-six millions of inhabitants, and thirty 
thousand miles of railroad, and in the same proportion, the Colombians 
should be able to construct at least two thousand four hundred miles. 
We, as has been indicated by the citizen President, should make haste 
and begin the construction of our net work of trans-continental routes, 
beginning with the line between Buenaventura and Cali, to set at 
work the immense latent productive faculties of the State of Cauca, 
and with equal, or even more, determination, hasten along the North¬ 
ern Railroad, either carrying along the trunk, or opening the branch 
to Carare, or prolonging the trunk to the lake of Paturia, or some 
other suitable point on the Lower Magdalena, but always with a view 


8 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

to reaching Cucuta, and, in time, crossing Venezuela to the Guaira. 

Once that Venezuela is persuaded that this country will finish the 
construction of the railroad from Bogota to Zulia, the population of 
that country will dedicate the enthusiasm and the force that at present 
is expended in civil wars, to the continuation of this railroad through 
the heart of the country to the Atlantic, and in this manner it will 
come about that the locomotive will establish between Colombia and 
Venezuela, that intimate union that could never be accomplished by 
Bolivar nor Zea, nor the Congress of Guyana, nor the Congress of 
Cucuta, nor the Convention of Ocana, nor the Admirable Congress, 
nor any other political combination of any kind. 

We do not believe that these ideas will be considered as a dream, or 
the project as an impracticable one. That which may be truly called 
a dream, chimera or fantasie, is the belief or idea that it is possible for 
the Republic to advance or continue to exist, without beginning in 
earnest the construction of railroads; the belief or idea that the inteli- 
gent and active people of Colombia, aspiring, and instinctively inclined 
to the great and the useful, will conform in future to the condition of 
inferiority with which it begins to contemplate its industrial position, 
as compared with other Spanish American communities; the belief or 
idea that in the future it will tolerate inert administrations, that 
initiate nothing, and never devote themselves to the study of the true 
means of progress, or of the enterprises that this study makes appear 
indispensable. 


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 


To the Senate and Citizen President of the Senate : 

On the first of last month, I had the honor to present to Congress a 
plan for a system of railroads, that, in its realization, would establish 
through the centre of the most populated parts of the country, from 
Atlantic to Pacific, a rich stream of traffic. 

Following up this idea, which is in exact accordance with the powers 





President's Message. 


9 


delegated to the Federal authority by clause 6th, Article 17, of the 
Constitution, for “ regulating the inter-oceanic routes that already 
exist, or that may be opened, in the territory of the Union, and for 
regulating the navigation of those rivers that pass through the territory 
of more than one State, or pass into the territory of a neighboring 
country I have approved, for my part, the basis of a contract in the 
course of definite adjustment between the Secretary of State and the 
American citizens, Smith and Modica, representatives of an American 
company, organized in the State of Illinois, entitled “ The Cauca Valley 
Mining and Constructing Company,” for the purpose of constructing 
and maintaining a railroad from the Pacific Ocean to the river Cauca, 
near Cali. 

In my opinion, the Union should take upon itself to provide for a 
central inter-oceanic road or route, although it might not be able 
immediately to complete the whole of it. To meet and connect with 
this central route, branch roads will be constructed from the several 
States, with or without the aid of the General Government. This 
road or route should start from the port of Buenaventura, reach the 
river Cauca, follow the course of that river to Cartago, and from there, 
by the most practicable route, pass through the State of Tolima, and 
reach the plains of Bogota, upon which this capital is situated, to con¬ 
tinue through the States of Boyaca and Santander and the Lower 
Magdalena, to Sabanilla and Santamarta, on the Atlantic. 

Two divisions of this great central line may be commenced at once, 
the two that are most urgently demanded, and will be most immedi¬ 
ately and certainly profitable. First, that to which the basis of con¬ 
tract that accompany this message relates ; and, second, that from this 
capital to the Lower Magdalena. 

This session of Congress being about to terminate, and being desirous 
that the work that Smith and Modica propose to undertake should not 
be delayed, I have deemed it sufficient to submit to you the basis 
agreed upon, in order that, if you approve of constructing the great 
central route at the charge and on the account of the Union, and 
esteem as good the basis of contract agreed upon, you may immedi¬ 
ately pass a law to that effect, authorizing the final adjustment of other 
contracts, that the construction of other portions of the road may 
require. 

The vast proportions of this project should not intimidate us. For 
a young people there are no insurmountable difficulties. As we have 
2 


10 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

copied the free institutions of the United Slates of America, let us arm 
ourselves with a confidence equal to theirs, in the destinies of the new 
continent, stimulate ourselves with equal energy, and, without vacilla¬ 
tion, rival them in activity and determination in developing our 
resources. They began and completed, in the midst of their terrible 
civil war, the trans-continental railroad that, beginning in New York, 
terminates in San Francisco, crossing the Rocky Mountains, and 
traversing immense deserts, a railroad very nearly four thousand miles 
long. And not content with this, they are at this moment engaged 
in constructing two other parallel roads, one to the north and the 
other to the south. The route which I take the liberty of proposing 
to you only requires the construction of 600 miles of railroad, because 
it will be a land and water route. The navigable waters of the rivers 
Cauca and Magdalena will form a great part of it. 

Once that the division from Buenaventura to the Cauca is complet¬ 
ed, we must expect a very considerable increase in the industry of 
that most fertile and wonderful valley; the exportations of sugar, 
tobacco, coffee, and many other valuable products, will be at the very 
least trebled, and the income from the Custom House be correspond¬ 
ingly augmented, furnishing funds with which to assist the navigation 
of the river Cauca, and the means of facilitating the advance of the 
locomotive to the interior of the Republic. The central cordillera of 
the Andes may prove so much of an obstacle to continuing the road 
from Cartago to the upper Magdalena, as to make it necessary to post¬ 
pone its construction; and in that case we must content ourselves with 
the indispensable mule and cart road. The division from th :3 capital 
to the river Magdalena promises, from the wealth and population of 
this part of the country, to develop a prodigious industrial activity, 
which again will wonderfully augment the Custom House receipts, 
giving resources sufficient to prolong this line to Cambao or Jirardot. 

I am of the opinion that the greatest difficulty will be overcome 
when the work is begun on these two divisions, because our timidity 
and lack of confidence will have disappeared, our spirits will be ani¬ 
mated, and the continuation of the great work will proceed of itself, 
and our progress and activity be accelerated in geometrical proportion. 
The Union will be abundantly able not only to realize and maintain 
this great central route that will be under its immediate jurisdiction, 
as the Panama Railroad is, as the navigation of the great rivers is, and as 
the Isthmus Canal will be, but it can also assist branch roads from the 
different States that come and terminate in the great central line, like, 
for instance, the line from Medellin to the river Magdalena. 


TKe Contract. 


11 


Should Congress in its wisdom consider this project realizable, I do 
not doubt that, notwithstanding the short time that remains this year, 
it will give this matter the preference, and impart to it, in the proper 
terms, their legal sanction. 

I am tbe attentive Servant of the President of the Senate, 

MANUEL MURILLO. 

Bogota, April 27, 1872. 


CONTRACT 

FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RAILROAD BETWEEN THE PORT OF BUENAVENTURA 
AND THE RIVER CAUCA. 


[Translated from the “Diario Official of Bogota,” of July 11th, 1872.] 


Aquileo Parra, Secretary of State, (Hacinda and Fomento) of the 
Government of the United States of Columbia, with the express 
authorization of the Executive Power, for one part; and for the other 
part David R. Smith, Esq., and Frank B. Modica, Esq. The first, 
said David R. Smith, being President of the Company, duly organized 
in the State of Illinois, United States of America, entitled, “ The 
Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company,” and said Frank B. 
Modica, the second, Superintendent of Construction of the said Com¬ 
pany. Both said Smith and Modica being provided with full powers, 
conferred on Smith and Modica in the City of Peoria, County of the 
same name, State of Illinois, the twenty-fourth of February of the 
current year (1872), as appears from the documents, duly authenti¬ 
cated, that have been had in sight, and that are annexed, have cele¬ 
brated a contract for the construction and operation of a railroad in 
the place and with the conditions hereinafter expressed, as follows : 

ARTICLE I. 

The Company, “The Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Com¬ 
pany,” obliges itself to construct and put in public service a steam 
railroad, between the sea-shore, where it forms the Bay of Buenaven¬ 
tura, and the west bank of the river Cauca, in the sovereign State of 
Cauca, within the term of four years from the date that the present 





12 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

contract is approved by the President of the Colombian Union. The 
survey of the route for the construction of the railroad will commence 
within six months, and the construction of the road within one year, 
counting the one and the other time from the beforementioned date; 
and the fact of the completion of the road in all its extent, and of its 
being placed in public service, will be summarily proved before the 
Executive Power, at the solicitation of the Company, in accordance 
with the evidence to that effect, examined by the Company and an 
Agent appointed by the Executive Power for that purpose. For 
the purpose of the payment of the quantities that the Government 
must deliver to the Company in character or quality of guarantee of 
interest as hereinafter expressed; the railroad will be considered 
finished within the above-mentioned four years, as soon as one loaded 
train passes over the whole extent of the road, without inconvenience 
whatever; but the Company must have at least complied with the 1st, 
2nd, 6th, 7th, 16th and 17th sections of the following article. 

ARTICLE II. 

During the first ten years, counting from the date upon which the 
road is opened to public service, in accordance with the stipulations 
of Article I., said railroad must conform to the conditions expressed 
in the following sections : 

Sec. 1. The minimum width between the rails shall be seventy-five 
centimeters (30 inches). 

§ 2. The maximum grade shall be one in twenty-five, or four per 
cent. \ and the grades and curves throughout the line shall be arranged 
in such a manner that any one of the locomotives used in through 
service may move over these grades a gross weight of eighty tons, 
including the weight of the locomotive, and with an average velocity 
of fifteen kilometres (nine miles) per hour, exclusive of the time that 
the train may have to lose by reason of detentions on the road. 

§ 3. The road must have due solidity, in order to render it perma¬ 
nently serviceable, and to secure the decrease of the expenses of main¬ 
tenance (conservacion); the bridges and viaducts shall be of iron, 
when the span exceeds three metres (10 feet), and the abutments of 
all the bridges must be of iron, stone or brick. 

§ 4. All the works of art, whether of iron, wood, stone or brick, 
shall be made of the best materials, and constructed in a workmanlike 
manner. 

§ 5. The road shall be duly ballasted at such points as may be 


The Contract. 


13 


necessary; and where ballasting is not necessary, the spaces between 
the ties shall be filled sufficiently to cover the ties. 

§ 6. In those places where public or private roads cross the line of 
the railroad, suitable crossings shall be provided, with the necessary 
provisions against accidents. 

§ 7. The form of the rails shall be that denominated “T.” 

§ 8. The rails shall be of iron of the best quality, and their weight 
shall not be less than twenty-five kilogrammes per meter (50 tbs. to the 
yard). 

§ 9. The ties shall be of Guayacan, or of other wood equally dura¬ 
ble, and shall be twenty centimeters (8 inches) in width, by twelve 
centimeters (4 inches) in thickness. 

§ 10. In curves of less than two hundred meters (220 yards) radius, 
the rails must be bent to correspond to the curvature. 

§ 11. The ties will be placed at a distance of seventy-five centimeters 
(30 inches) apart, from centre to centre, and closer together at the 
joints of the rails, according to custom. 

§ 12. There shall be constructed two principal stations, one at each 
end of the railroad, of,the dimensions that the traffic requires; and, as 
the traffic increases, the dimensions and the accommodations at these 
stations must be increased by the Company, without any increase in 
the quantity or sums destined as a guarantee by the Government, as 
hereinafter expressed. 

§ 13. The edifices of the two principal stations shall comprehend a 
furnished saloon for first-class passengers, and another for those of the 
second class; also separate offices for receiving and delivering baggage, 
furnished with the necessary furniture and apparatus; also an office for 
forgotten baggage; also vaults or water closets for first and second 
class passengers—those for males separate from those for females; and 
any other accessory or necessary accommodations for the railroad and 
the traffic. 

§ 14. The passenger and baggage station shall be separate from the 
freight station; the freight station shall comprehend an edifice for 
freight, with separate departments for receiving and delivering the 
same; an edifice for locomotives, an edifice for repairing locomotives 
and cars, with all the machinery and utensils necessary thereto ; places 
of deposit for water, wood and coal; the necessary arrangements for 
the convenient loading and unloading of animals; and the sheds, 
houses or roofs necessary for the cars. 


14 


Oauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company . 

§ 15. At intermediate points where the traffic requires the establish¬ 
ment of secondary stations, the Company shall construct the necessary 
edifices, and these as well as those mentioned in the foregoing sections, 
shall be as large and convenient as the traffic demands, well con¬ 
structed and of the best materials, not being in anything inferior to 
those generally used in this class of constructions. 

§ 16. The rolling stock shall consist of the number of locomotives 
and cars that the traffic requires; but at the time that the road is 
opened to the service of the public, said stock must consist of at least 
two locomotives and thirty cars \ each one of these locomotives must 
have sufficient power to move up a four per cent, grade with a veloci¬ 
ty of fifteen kilometers (9 miles) an hour, a train with a gross weight 
of eighty tons, including the weight of the locomotive. 

§ 17. The cars for passengers, of first and second class, must be at 
least equal in quality to those that are at the present time used on the 
Panama Railroad. 

§ 18. If in ten years after the completion of the railroad, and its 
being put in public service according to the first Article of this contract, 
the Company has not complied with all the conditions imposed by the 
present Article, the Government from that time forward will have to 
pay nothing to the Company • and if within two years afterwards, that 
is, at the end of twelve years after the road has been opened to the 
public, the Company has not complied with all the stipulations of the 
present Article, this privilege (or contract) shall be forfeited. 

§ 19. The fact of having complied with the conditions of the pres¬ 
ent Article shall be proved in the manner established in the first 
Article of this contract. 

ARTICLE III. 

In receiving and delivering goods that are transported by the rail¬ 
road, the Company must conform to all the Custom House regulations. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The use, enjoyment, usufruct profit (usufructo) of the railroad, and 
all that appertains to it, shall belong to the Company for the term of 
sixty years, counting from the day on which the whole road is opened 
to public service. 


AKTICLE Y. 

During the term of four years that the Company has for construct- 


The Contract. 


15 


ing the road, it (the Company) may put in operation and public service 
any part of the road that may be completed. 

ARTICLE VI. 

At the expiration of the sixty years during which the usufruct of 
the railroad belongs to the Company, said road shall pass to the Re¬ 
public of Colombia, with all that appertains to it, and the Government 
shall pay nothing for the title as a price or indemnification. 

ARTICLE VII. 

During the sixty years that the usufruct of the railroad be¬ 
longs to the Company, said Company is obliged to maintain 
it in good condition, and serve it with all security, and 
with all the facilities that the commerce may require. At 
the time that the road and its appurtenances are delivered up 
to the Government, they must be in a condition for service 
equal to the best condition that they may have been in at any time; 
the rolling stock being neither inferior in quantity or quality to that 
with which the road was provided when in its best and most service¬ 
able condition. 


ARTICLE VIII. 

Fifty-five years after the road is finished according to the terms of 
Article I., the Government of the Nation may exact from the Company 
a guarantee equal in amount to the net product of the enterprise, dur¬ 
ing the next preceding five years, for the purpose of securing compli¬ 
ance with Article VII.; and the Company shall be obliged either to 
give this guarantee or deliver up the road to the Government during 
the fifty-sixth year, considering the privilege forfeited from the fact of 
not having presented the guarantee. 

ARTICLE IX. 

After the entire completion of the railroad and its appurtenances, 
and when the National Executive Power esteems it convenient, the 
Company shall order to be made at its expense, for the purposes of 
Article VII., a map of the land occupied for railroad purposes, giving 
legal notice to the owners of adjoining lands; and also make an inven¬ 
tory of all the works, annexes, and appurtenances of the road, that are 
to be delivered to the Republic at the time of the expiration of the 


16 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

privilege (or contract). The Company shall also cause to be made, at 
its expense, a description of the bridges, aqueducts and other works of 
art that may have been constructed, and that are to be ceded to the 
Republic, as hereinbefore said. The Government has the right to 
name, for its part, an especial engineer or commissioner, who shall 
inspect the operations to which this article relates, in order to be able 
to testify to the exactitude of the maps, inventories and descriptions 
mentioned in this article, in order that said maps, inventories and de¬ 
scriptions may be considered exact for the purposes of Article VII. 

ARTICLE X. 

The Company cannot impose a higher tariff than the following: 
Five dollars ($5) for each through passenger, transported in cars of 
ordinary construction (good, comfortable cars), and two cents through 
freight for each kilogramme (2i lbs) weight, of whatever kind; for 
bulky articles, the Company may charge, for through freight, five cents 
for a space equal to the cube of twenty centimeters (16 cents per cubic 
foot); for packages or articles of less weight than fifty kilogrammes 
(112 lbs.), the Company may add twenty per cent, to the above rate; 
for way freight or passengers that are transported a distance equal to 
or exceeding one-half the length of the road, twenty per cent, may be 
added to the foregoing rates, and fifty per cent, when the distance is 
less than one-half the length of the road. 

ARTICLE XI. 

The Company shall transport the effects belonging to the Nation or 
the State, as well as the persons and materials belonging to the army 
or troops of the Nation or the State, for one-half the tariff price. The 
mails and messengers of the Nation or State, and the mail bags or 
packages under their charge, shall be transported on the days and at 
the hours determined by the postal regulations; but if, in order to 
perform this service, it becomes necessary for the Company to employ 
extra trains or cars, the price to be paid by the Government will be 
matter for equitable arrangement. 

ARTICLE XII. 

Among the constructions to be made by the Company, are deter¬ 
mined the following : A pier or wharf connecting the terminus of the 
road, at the Bay of Buenaventura, with the point where heavy draught 


The Contract. 


17 


ships may float at high tide; also, at the river Cauca, the apparatus 
necessary for passing, with entire security, from the railroad to the 
steamboats, and vice versa. To complete the pier or wharf in the Bay 
of Buenaventura, two years more time is conceded to the Company, 
said two years counting from the day on which the whole road is placed 
in public service. 


ARTICLE XIII. 

The pier or wharf to he constructed in the Bay of Buenaventura, 
must have sufficient solidity to support the loaded trains of the railroad, 
and permit their passage over its entire length ; and the fact of its 
being completed and placed in public service, will be proved before the 
Executive Power, in the manner already established in Article I. of 
this contract. 

ARTICLE XIY. 

When the pier or wharf is completed, it will be considered as a part 
of the railroad, but the operation of passing persons and things, from 
the wharf to the ship, and vice versa, will be subject to the following 
charge or toll: Ten cents for each person, and ten cents for every fifty 
kilogrammes (112 lbs.) weight. 

It is understood that the right of embarking and disembarking pas¬ 
sengers and freight that passes over, or is to pass over, the railroad, 
will be an exclusive right of the Company, established or taking effect 
as soon as the road is finished to the river Cauca, and the wharf in the 
Bay of Buenaventura is completed. For the transfer of goods and 
passengers from the road to the steamers, on the river Cauca, and vice 
versa, the Company may charge the same as from the ship to the wharf 
in Buenaventura, as beforementioned in this article. The operation of 
passing goods or passengers from the wharf to the ship, in Buenaven¬ 
tura, and vice versa, or from the railroad to the steamboat, in the river 
Cauca, and vice versa, is the business of (in charge of) the Company, 
in which operation the Company may employ the men or machinery 
required. It is understood that the wharf in the bay, and the con¬ 
structions that are made at the river Cauca, and also the machinery and 
apparatus established or employed for the transfer of passengers from 
the ship to the shore, and vice versa, shall form a part of the appurte¬ 
nances of the railroad that the Company is to deliver, in good condition 
for service, to the Government of the Republic, at the end of the sixty 
years, during which the usufruct of the railroad belongs to the Com¬ 
pany (usufructaria). 

3 


18 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

Notwithstanding the exclusive right beforementioned in this article, 
the Company cannot concede privileges nor preferences to particular 
persons or things, with respect to embarkation, or disembarkation, or 
transportation over the railroad. It will be their duty to embark, or 
disembark, and transport over the railroad, all the passengers and mer¬ 
chandise in the order in which they arrive at the port; but the passen¬ 
gers or merchandise that may have to pass over the railroad on account 
of the Government, will have the preference, when the Government 
may require or demand that such preference be given. The toll or 
charge of ten cents to which this article refers, will be computed as a 
part of the product of the railroad. 

ARTICLE XV. 

Six months after the signing of this contract, the Company will de¬ 
posit in the Bank of Bogota, to the order of the Government, the 
amount of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), which sum the 
Company will lose, as a fine or forfeit, if, at the expiration of the time 
indicated in this contract, the Company has not begun and completed 
the railroad. 

These conditions being complied with, the twenty-five thousand 
dollars will remain again at the disposition of the Company. 

ARTICLE XVI. 

All questions that may arise about the meaning, or understanding, 
or fulfillment of the present contract, will be decided by the courts and 
tribunals of the United States of Colombia. 

ARTICLE XVII. 

The cost of the railroad, including the wharf in the Bay of Buena¬ 
ventura, and the apparatus for transferring from the road to the steam¬ 
boats in the river Cauca, and all accessories and appurtenances of said 
railroad, wharf and apparatus, is estimated at seven millions of dollars 
($7,000,000). This estimate is made for the purposes of the present 
contract, and cannot be changed or invalidated, for any reason what¬ 
ever, neither by the Government nor by the Company, whatever the 
actual cost of the work may be. 

ARTICLE XVIII. 

The Government obliges itself to deposit the following sums in the 


The Contract , 


19 


bank known by tbe name of tbe Bank of Bogota, or in any other that 
the Executive Power may designate, always under the responsibility 
of the Government: One hundred and five thousand dollars 
($105,000) in each one of the three last years of the term that the 
Company has to construct the railroad in, and two hundred and ten 
thousand dollars ($210,000) annually for the term of twenty years, 
beginning on the day on which the whole road is placed in public 
service. The railroad being completed according to the terms of 
Article I. of this contract, the Company will receive the sums deposited 
during the preceding years, as in payment of the interest due to the 
capital employed in the work. The sum of two hundred and ten 
thousand dollars that the Government is to deposit annually after the 
beforementioned three years, will be applied, in whole or in part, to 
cover the deficit that will result to the Company if the products of the 
enterprise are not sufficient to cover the cost of maintenance and ser¬ 
vice (conservacion i servicio), and also the interest of seven per cent, 
on the seven millions of dollars beforementioned; and it is under¬ 
stood : 

First —That whatever this deficit may be, the Government is not 
obliged to give more than the said two hundred and ten thousand 
dollars. 

Second —If said deficit should be less than two hundred and ten 
thousand dollars, the Government is only obliged to give a sum equal 
to said deficit. 

Third —If during three consecutive years, there is no deficit, the 
Government is not obliged to deposit any sum whatever. 

Fourth —If in any year of the stipulated twenty, the products or 
earnings of the enterprise decrease so as to leave a deficit, the Govern¬ 
ment will again continue to deposit the sum of two hundred and ten 
thousand dollars annually, until the enterprise again covers its expenses 
for three consecutive years. The earnings of the railroad from passen¬ 
ger and freight traffic, before it is completed, shall enter into the 
account of the earnings during the first year that the whole road is in 
operation. For the purposes of this contract, the Company’s expenses 
shall be considered as of three kinds : 

1st.—Expense of construction, equipment, apparatus , and consolida¬ 
ting and perfecting the road , which comprehends all the capital that 
the Company has to invest in new works and new apparatus during 
the whole time to which this contract relates; to comply with the 
stipulations of Article II., and which, no matter what the amount 


20 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

really may be, will always be considered neither more nor less than 
seven millions of dollars. 

2nd.— Expense for maintenance (Gastos de conservacion), which 
comprehends all those sums that the Company will have to expend in 
repairing, replacing, and preserving in their best condition, all the 
works, apparatus and utensils appertaining to the railroad, or to the 
service of the same. 

3rd.— Expenses of administration , or service y or operation (adminis- 
tracion o servicio), that will comprehend all those sums that the Com¬ 
pany will have to expend in paying employes, operating the road, &c. 

ARTICLE XIX. 

The Republic pledges the part of the products of the Custom Houses 
of Buenaventura, Tumaco and Rio Sucio, now free, and any part that 
may be free in the future, by virtue of any laws or agreements, to 
destine said products or free part, to the deposit of the sums that said 
Government has to deposit, to comply with the terms of this contract. 
It is understood that this free part cannot be pledged or compromised 
for any other purpose whatever, nor can any document of public credit 
be drawn against it; and if said free part is not sufficient to complete 
the sum that the Government has to deposit, the Government will 
complete said sums with the product of other rents of the Nation. No 
other draft will be admitted against said free part, except that which 
will be made by the Bank of Bogota, or the bank designated by the 
Executive Power, according to Article XVIII., for the hereinbefore- 
mentioned deposits to be made by the said Government. 

ARTICLE XX. 

The Government sells to the Company one million of hectaras 
(2,500,000 acres) of wild lands, at the rate of twenty-five cents per 
hectara (ten cents per acre) ; these lands shall be selected by the 
Company, and divided in alternate lots of ten thousand hectaras 
(25,000 acres), each in such a manner that between each two lots of 
the Company, or at the side of each of them, there shall be separated 
an equal one for the Government. When the extent of a piece of 
wild land to be appropriated under this contract may be less than 
twenty thousand hectaras, said land shall be divided in two equal por¬ 
tions, one for the Government and the other for the Company. One 
half of the cost of surveying each lot so sold to the Company, shall be 
at the expense of the Company. 


The Contract. 


21 


The Company may dispose of the said million of hectaras of land on 
the following terms: One one-eighth part when one-quarter of the 
road is finished, three one-eighth parts when one-half the road is 
finished, and the rest when the work is completed according to Article 
I. of this contract. The surveys of the lands shall be made by sur¬ 
veyors appointed by, and contracted with, by the Government. It is 
understood that the Company is obliged to return to the Nation, with¬ 
out any indemnification, the lands that may be denounced as being 
located in a zone appropriated to the inter-oceanic canal; and for the 
lands that the Company may lose in such zone, an equal quantity or 
amount shall be granted to them by the Government in some other 
locality. In the sales or alienations of wild land in the State of Cauca, 
to the south of 5£° north latitude, and to the west of the meridian 1° 
east of Bogota, the Government shall reserve lots of ten thousand 
hectaras at the side of those that it alienates ; and those appropriated 
or alienated by the Government, cannot be, in any case, greater than 
ten thousand hectaras, in order that the Company may have from 
where to select the lots that correspond to them. 

This obligation of the Government shall continue in force for the 
term of eight years, counting from the date of the present contract; 
and if, at the expiration of this term of eight years, the Company shall 
not have selected the entire million of hectaras that correspond to them, 
said Company shall have to select the remainder wherever they are to 
be found in the Republic, not appropriated, and in alternate lots, as 
hereinbefore stipulated. 


ARTICLE XXI. 

The Republic retains the right to be paid the amount of the sums 
that they may have advanced or paid out in compliance with the stip¬ 
ulations of this contract, as well as of the value of the wild lands, in 
the following terms : As soon as the Company has been reimbursed the 
seven millions of dollars in which is estimated the value of the railroad 
and the expenses of maintenance and operations (conservacion i 
servicio) of the road, the net earnings of the enterprise shall be applied 
to paying said sums ; but if, at the expiration of the sixty years, there 
should yet remain any sum due the Government, this sum, or debt of 
the Company, shall be considered totally extinguished. 

ARTICLE XXII. 

The railroad, and everything that appertains to it, shall be free from 


22 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


all taxes or contributions whatsoever, either of the Nation, State, 
Municipalities or Districts, or any other political entity or corporation 
whatever. 


ARTICLE XXIII. 

The enterprise shall be considered as one of public utility, and, 
therefore, the laws of expropriation shall be applied to all the lands 
that may be necessary for the establishment of the line of the road, 
stations, wharves and embarkations; if the lands belong to the Nation, 
they shall be given to the Company without price. The road, and all 
that appertains to it, shall be considered as the property of the Gov¬ 
ernment, but without said Government having any right to its usufruct, 
which right, in the terms of this contract, belongs to the Company. 

ARTICLE XXIY. 

After the first of January, of one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-three (January 1st, 1873), the Company must have, perma¬ 
nently, in the Territory of Colombia, a representative provided with 
the powers necessary to represent the Company before the authorities 
of the country, in everything that has any relation to the enterprise; 
and of the appointment of this representative, the Company must duly 
inform the Government. 

ARTICLE XXV. 

The Company is obliged to keep and legally prove its accounts, and 
to present them for examination to the employe that the Government 
shall name for that purpose ; this employe shall be paid by the Gov¬ 
ernment, and of his appointment the Government shall give due notice 
to the Company. 


ARTICLE XXVI. 

All the machinery, tools, and all materials of construction, or for the 
maintenance and operation, administration or service of the railroad or 
its appurtenances, as well as all provisions or food for the use of the 
men employed in the construction of the road, shall be free from the 
payment of importation, tonnage, or other duties. It is understood 
that the exemption from the payment of duties on provisions, for the 
consumption of the employes, shall cease when the road is completed. 


The Contract. 


23 


ARTICLE XXVII. 

The Government, making use of the ample powers conferred upon 
it by the Buenaventura Wheelroad Company, cedes, in the name of 
that Company, all the shares of the said Wheelroad Company to the 
Railroad Company; by virtue of which cession, the said Wheelroad 
Company shall put itself in liquidation, as soon as the construction of 
the railroad is commenced. The following are conditions of this stipu¬ 
lation : 

First —The road and all that belongs or appertains to the said Wheel¬ 
road Company, exclusive of what the National or State Government 
may owe to said Company, is ceded to this contracting Railroad Com¬ 
pany ; and, 

Second —This Railroad Company shall pay the value of the shares 
belonging to private individuals that may have been paid up (que 
tengan consignado), with thirty year seven per cent, bonds. The part 
shares or interest belonging to the sovereign State of Cauca (el credito 
del estado soberano del Cauca), will constitute a capital that will begin 
to receive its proper proportion of the profits or dividends from the 
time that the Republic enters into possession of the railroad, calcula¬ 
ting, for this effect, that the road is worth seven millions of dollars. 

ARTICLE XXVIII. 

The Government shall allow the Company to place a telegraph line 
upon the posts of the Government line from Buenaventura to the river 
Cauca, the Company bearing one-half the expense of maintaining said 
posts; but the Company may, if it pleases, establish a separate line for 
its own use, between the port of Buenaventura and the river Cauca. 

ARTICLE XXIX. 

One year after the road is open to public service, or before, if the 
Company pleases, the Company obliges itself to place upon the river 
Cauca one or more steamboats; said steamboats shall be exempt from 
all National taxes or contributions, for the whole time that the Com¬ 
pany shall have possession of the road ) but it is understood that the 
steamboat enterprise is entirely separate and independent from that of 
the railroad, and that the Company is at perfect liberty to fix its own 
tariffs for the transportations that are made in said steamboats, without 
any other obligation than to give the preference, in order of transporta¬ 
tion, to the employes, and goods of the Nation and State, and the 
personel and material of the troops of the Nation and State. 


24 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

ARTICLE XXX. 

The Company obligates itself not to lend the service of its road or 
of its steamboats, to transport persons or effects, the transportation of 
which is prohibited by the Government of the Nation or State; and to 
comply with the police regulations that said Governments dictate. 

ARTICLE XXXI. 

The Company acquires from the present time the right to construct, 
with its own funds, from the river Cauca to the river Magdalena, a 
railroad as a continuation of that from Buenaventura to the river 
Cauca, or as a part of the trans-continental route; and the Govern¬ 
ment shall consider the work as of public utility, and apply the Laws 
of ex-propriation relative to Houses and Lands, (bienes raices), that 
the Company may require to construct the road and its appurtenances. 
The Company hereby obligates itself not to charge for freight, more 
than six (6) cents per ton, per mile; and six (6) cents per mile for 
each passenger, in cars of ordinary construction ; but if the Govern¬ 
ment resolves to construct this road by contract, by direct aid, or by 
privilege, this Company shall have the preference under equal circum¬ 
stances. It is understood that in any or all cases of concession of 
privilege to another company, or individual, to construct a railroad 
from the river Cauca to the river Magdalena as a continuation of the 
line to which this contract relates, this Company now contracting can 
not be deprived of the right to continue its own line to the river Mag¬ 
dalena. The right to construct the railroad from the river Cauca to 
the river Magdalena in the terms, in this article expressed, will only 
exist, for the Company, for the term of twelve years, counting from 
the date of this contract. The stipulations of this Article does not 
limit in any manner the faculty or right that remains with the Gov¬ 
ernment to initiate contracts and concede privileges for the construc¬ 
tion of any other railroad from the interior of the Republic to the 
river Magdalena. 

ARTICLE XXXII. 

Neither the laborers employed in the construction of the railroad nor 
any of the employes in the construction, service or operation of the 
railroad, or of the steamboats, can be drafted or compelled to perform 
any kind of military or police service. 


The Contract. 


25 


ARTICLE XXXIII. 

It is expressly understood that neither the Government nor the 
Company shall be held responsible for any delay in complying with the 
stipulations contained in this contract, or for any impediment that may 
prevent compliance or cause delay, when such delay or impediment is 
occasioned by accident or by any force, cause or power beyond human 
control (caso fortuito o fuerzo mayor). 

ARTICLE XXXIV. 

Besides the causes of forfeiture, expressed in the Eighteenth Sec¬ 
tion of Article II., and in Article VIII. of this contract, this contract 
or privilege shall also be forfeited : 

First —If the Company does not comply with the stipulations of Arti¬ 
cle I, and Article XV. 

Second —If at any time after the whole road is opened to public 
service, the Company fails to operate said road during a term of four 
consecutive months; always save and except, as provided in. Article 
XXXIII. 


ARTICLE XXXV. 

In case of forfeiture validly pronounced against the Company by 
the competent tribunal, the Companyi will be obliged: 

First —To return or restore to the Government all those effects or 
goods that have been adjudged to them without price (a titulo gratuito) 
by the Nation according to Article XXIII. of this contract; provided, 
that said effects or goods have not been sold to a third party; and the 
Company cannot exact any indemnification whatever from the Govern¬ 
ment on account of improvement, or for other cause in consideration of 
such return or restitution. 

Second. Also, to restore or return the wild lands sold to them by 
this contract; provided, that the Company has not paid or does not 
pay the Government for them at the rate of twenty-five cents per 
hectara (ten cents per acre) ; and, 

Third —To deliver to the Governmennt the whole railroad, if it is 
finished, or the part that is finished, with everything that appertains 
to said railroad. 

ARTICLE XXXVI. 

The present contract cannot be ceded or conveyed to any foreign 

4 


26 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


government; and to cede or convey it to any company or individual 
whatever, the Company must obtain the permission of the National 
Executive Power. 

ARTICLE XXXVII. 

This contract shall be in full force and take due effect from the date 
of its approval by the Executive Power of the Union (M. Murillo, 
President of the U. S. of Columbia). 

In faith of which we sign in duplicate (two documents exactly alike, 
and of which this is a translation), iu Bogota, on the Sixth day of 
July, in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-Two. 

AQUILEO PARRA, 

DAVID R. SMITH, 
FRANK B. MODICA, 

Bogota, July 6th, 1872. 

APPROVED, 

(L. S.) M. MURILLO, 

The Secretary of State , (Hacienda i Fomento.) 

AQUILEO PARRA. 


MEMORIALS AND CONGRATULATIONS. 


The news of the presentation to Congress of the 
basis of contract and the accompanying message by 
the President of the Union, was received in Cauca with 
the wildest enthusiasm, and public meetings were held 
in all parts of the State. In Cali they formed an im 
mense procession, with banners, music, fire-works, <fec., 
&c.j actually compelling the modest Mr. Jacob Jensen 
to march at its head. Him they fairly loaded down 
with wreaths of flowers, and deafened with their shouts 
of “Viva the Cauca Railroad,” “ Viva Dr. Murillo,” 





Memorials and Congratulations. 


27 


u Viva Jacob Jensen,” &c ., <fcc., while the ladies from 
the balconies and windows exhibited their smiling 
faces and beautiful forms, and waved their handker¬ 
chiefs, and threw flowers at the hero of the day. Mani¬ 
festations from nearly every town and city in the State 
of Cauca, came pouring into Bogota, urging Congress 
to approve the “Bases.” These manifestations or 
memorials were signed by thousands of persons, repre¬ 
senting the wealth, intelligence, power, patriotism, and 
unanimous good will of the people, towards an enter¬ 
prise that they fully realize will give a new life to their 
lovely State. Translations of a few of these manifesta¬ 
tions, that are at hand, are annexed : 

MEMORIALS. 

Department of State, Sovereign State of Cauca, \ 
United States of Colombia, Popatan, May 15,1872. J 

To the Secretary of State of the Union , Bogota: 

A memorial signed by many citizens, residents of this capital, has 
been prepared for the Senate of Plenipotentiaries; a memorial that has 
for its object soliciting of that honorable corporation the approval of 
the basis of contract of the twenty-fifth of April, ultimo, between 
Aquileo Parra, &c., &c., and David It. Smith and Frank B. Modica, 
&c., &c., for the construction of a railroad between the river Cauca and 
Buenaventura. 

We Caucanos who appreciate the transcendental advantages of this 
important work, have not hesitated one moment in making haste to 
send, with fervent enthusiasm, our votes, our assent, and pledges of 
our co-operation with this most laudable enterprise, and with this 
object, and with the object of urging the honorable Senators to impart 
their vote of approbation to the measure, it has devolved upon me 
the honor of remitting to you, by the present mail, the annexed 
memorial. Identified as you are with this measure, to which you have 
lent your hearty and valuable co-operation, I beg of you to place this 
document immediately before the Executive of the Nation, in order 
that he may present it to the Senate of Plenipotentiaries before that 
corporation has ended its session. 

With sentiments of the highest consideration, &c., 

JORGE QUIJANO. 


28 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

Honorable President and Members of the Senate 

of Plenipotentiaries of the Republic : 

It is with great satisfaction, and no little enthusiasm, that the im¬ 
portant news has been received, in the sovereign State of Cauca, that 
a contract for the construction of a railroad from the river Cauca to 
Buenaventura, had been celebrated between the National Government 
and Messrs. Smith and Modica, the representatives of a respectable 
North American company; and we should most undoubtedly fail in a 
duty of patriotism and of gratitude towards the Chief of the Aminis- 
tration, if we did not make haste to manifest our approval of the above- 
mentioned contract, and also our appreciation of the grand and benefi¬ 
cent results that are to be derived from the realization of this 
enterprise. 

For a long time, Honorable Senators, a railroad from the river Cauca 
to the Pacific has been the bright vision of our dreams, and the object 
of our nightly vigils, because we well know of what this privleged soil 
is capable, the day in which it becomes possible to export its abundant 
and varied products, and has a sure route for its commerce, and a stimu¬ 
lant to production. But unfortunately our efforts have been sterile, and 
our sacrifices fruitless, on account of the scarcity of our resources, and 
the innumerable difficulties with which we have been compelled to carry 
on a useless struggle; difficulties and impediments with which you are 
so well acquainted as to render it unnecessary for us to detain ourselves 
in describing them at this time. It was reserved for the illustrious 
Administration that was inaugurated on the first of April, to resolve, 
with a patriotic spirit and a firm hand, this difficult problem of our 
economical existence, and the duty of the Cauca is to aid and assist, in 
the most decided and resolute manner, until it sees these painful efforts 
crowned with success, in spite of any and all selfish or anti-patriotic 
opposition that may arise. ****** 

Receive, Honorable Senators, this brief manifestation, as one of the 
many testimonials of the opinion of the sovereign State of Cauca that 
will be presented to you. Assist the new Administration in its efforts 
to open an inter-oceanic route across the Cauca, even though costly 
sacrifices may be required, because any sacrifices for that purpose will 
be repaid a thousand fold to the Republic. 

Ho not surrender or falter on account of difficulties that always 
surround this class of enterprises, because they are not insuperable, 
when will and patriotism have determined to overcome them. In your 
decision, we think we see the completion of the work and the realiza- 


Memorials and Congratulations. 


29 


tion of the enterprise; and we, who have the honor to subscribe, 
earnestly and respectfully ask your votes in favor of this contract. 

Popayan, May 17th, 1872. 

Joaquin Mosquera, Manuel M. Mosquera, Jorge Quijano, Jerimias 
Cardenas M., Joaquin Valencia, Cenon Pornbo, and hundreds of 
others. 


A LETTER. 

Translation of a letter from the President of the Democratical Society of Cali, to the President 
of the Union, sending a felicitation made to him by the Society, on account of the measures 
taken by him to push on the internal improvements of the country. 


LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY. 

United States of Colombia, State of Cauca, 1 
Presidency of the Democratical Society, No. 94. j 

Dr. Manuel Murillo , President of the Union: 

The society over which I have the honor to preside, in its regular 
session of the 11th instant, discussed, adopted, and signed, with great 
enthusiasm, the manifestation that I have the honor to remit to you, 
and which I hope you will receive as a new vote of the approbation 
that the people of Cali give to your patriotic official conduct. The 
telegraph between this city and Bogota began to operate with great 
regularity two days after the message was received here, that had been 
sent by you to the Senate on the 27th of last month, informing that 
body that you had approved, on your part, the basis of a contract, for 
the construction of a railroad from Buenaventura to the river Cauca, 
near Cali, and our enthusiasm, warmed already by your message, rose 
considerably on that occasion. 

We do not forget that it was you who first initiated the establish¬ 
ment of telegraphic communications in Colombia; and the country 
will remember forever, that it is you who will initiate the grand era 
of railroad communications through the country. 

I therefore, congratulate you, in the name of the Democratical 
Society. 

Your most attentive servant and compatriot, 

JUAN NEPOMUCENO VELASCO. 

Cali, May 16th, 1872. 

(A long memorial and congratulation follows, signed by several 
hundred members of the Society.) 




30 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

TRANSLATION OF A MEMORIAL OF THE INHABITANTS OF PALMIRA TO CONGRESS 

Citizens, Senators and Representatives: 

The undersigned, natives and foreigners, residing in this city 
(Palmira), have the honor to address you, demanding respectfully 
that your approbation be imparted to the basis of contract celebrated in 
Bogota the 5th day of April last, between the Secretary of State and 
Messrs. Smith and Modica, for the construction of a railroad from 
Buenaventura to the river Cauca, which road is considered as a part 
of the great trans-continental line, that sooner or later will traverse 
the whole country, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

Though the President of the Union, in his message accompanying 
the basis of contract, has refered to the advantages that the country 
will derive from the construction of this railroad, we will take the 
liberty of adding a few observations. 

You know, and the whole country knows, what the State of Cauca 
is; you and the whole country know what its immense natural re¬ 
sources are ; you and the whole country know that the beautiful State 
of Cauca produces almost everything that can be produced on earth, 
and is capable of increasing the amount of its productions indefinitely; 
and you know also that, notwithstanding these natural advantages, the 
State of Cauca struggles vainly to develop its resources, imprisoned as 
it is by the powerful arms of two ranges of mountains. 

Our tobacco, coffee, indigo, caucho, quina bark, copal, sarsaparrilla, 
sugar, copaiba, etc., are articles of a superior quality, and, notwith¬ 
standing the great expense required for their exportation, they are 
even now exported in large quantities, and successfully compete in 
European markets with similar products from other countries. 

The Pacific Ocean, that laves our shores, invites us to trust to it our 
products on a more extensive scale, but we cannot attend to that invi¬ 
tation, because we have no convenient and cheap way to reach its coast. 

You must not doubt, Citizens, Senators and Representatives, that 
the railroad, contracted for by the Executive Power of the Union, is 
to secure the future prosperity of the State of Cauca, and that the 
ardent aspiration of its citizens is to see its immediate inauguration. 
Moreover, any expenditure that may be made by the Government to 
aid the construction of this road, will be re-imbursed in a few years, 
with the increased resources arising from the natural development of 
the country. 

The contract, the approbation of which we solicit, agrees with all the 


31 


Memorials and Congratulaions . 

aspirations of the Nation and of the State, and forms a part of the 
excellent plans of the present National Administration ) and for this rea¬ 
son we direct ourselves to you, supplicating respectfully that, in exercise 
of your constitutional faculties, you will approve said contract. 

To the Citizens, Senators and Representatives : 

Palmira, 15th May, 1872. 

Faustino Fajardo, Santiago M. Eder, F. Materon, Manuel Loaquin 
Herrera, T. Bertin, Carlos Martin, Constantino Meyendorff, Gulio 
Varela, Adriano Scarpetta, J. M. Caicedo, A. R. Blum, and 472 
names more. 


MANIFESTATION TO THE CITIZEN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA. 
Doctor Manuel Murillo, Citizen President: 

We have read, with the greatest satisfaction, your message of the 
twenty-seventh ultimo, directed to Congress, accompanying the contract 
that has been celebrated with the North America Company, organized 
in Illinois, &c., &c., &c. 

The enthusiasm that this consoling news has produced among the 
inhabitants of Cali, is difficult to portray. When Messrs. Smith and 
Modica initiated, in this city, with the present Buenaventura Road 
Company, the contract for the construction of a railroad between the 
river Cauca and the Pacific, we became filled with the most flattering 
hopes, and the belief that the happy moment had arrived when the 
true civilization, inseparable from material progress, was about to 
invade, with all its advantages, this part of the Republic, as extensive 
and fertile, as it is hidden and forgotten. Now, nobody doubts that 
the prosperity of Colombia depends upon the lines of communication 
and easy transit, and we all know that the future of the Cauca in par¬ 
ticular is entirely identified with this proposed road, the necessity for 
which has always attracted the attention of every good patriot from the 
Colonial time until the present. 

The Cauca is sufficiently fertile, and is ready to produce in abun¬ 
dance articles of exportation to satisfy the requirements of a railroad. 
Sugar, cacao, tobacco, indigo, and Peruvian bark can be produced 
in unlimited quantities, the question being reduced simply to increas¬ 
ing the extent of the plantations, for as everybody knows, the extent 
of soil ready for cultivation is so exceedingly great that it may be 
almost considered as unlimited, and the abundance and facility with 



32 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

which it yields up its products is so great as to continually provoke a 
desire to cultivate it. 

Till now, the production of the State of Cauca has been limited, 
to providing only for the small internal consumption, the articles being 
few that can be profitably exported, and even the exportation of 
these being very small, taking into consideration the great productive 
capacity of the State. For instance, there are but few who export the 
tobacco of Palmira, because the planters of that county are obliged to re¬ 
duce their plantations to the limits required to fill contracts made before 
hand with the exporters. The same happens with sugar mills; when 
the planter produces a greater quantity than that demanded by the 
internal consumption of the State, he makes a sure loss. And we 
know by experience that the quality of this article in our State, is not 
inferior to that of any other country, we having moreover the extra¬ 
ordinary advantage that our sugar plantations last, without being re¬ 
planted, more than eighty years. 

Besides these articles of exportation, each of which can produce by 
itself abundant wealth for a Nation, several other branches of com¬ 
merce will arise. The cotton, the achiote and the vanilla, which now 
grow wild, will be cultivated; and furs, Indian corn, and rice will be 
exported, as well as palm wax, caucho, different classes of gum and 
resins, and gold and platina in larger quantities, since by the con¬ 
struction of the railroad to Buenaventura, mining and all other kinds of 
machinery can be introduced, and all the great markets of the Pacific 
Ocean, and of the world, will be opened to us. 

And that promising prospect will, perhaps, be a reality within four 
years from this time, and we that sign this manifestation, most proba¬ 
bly will see it. 

Our wishes and hopes are exalted, and we desire ardently to see ter¬ 
minated the proposed railroad, when we consider that not only the 
material progress of the country will be the consequence, but that 
besides the improvement in science and art, public tranquility, 
which we have but at intervals enjoyed, will grow firm forever, and 
our children will live happy in an industrious, rich and powerful 
country. 

When this manifestation is placed in your hands, it is probable 
that the Honorable Congress will have given its decisive vote on this ques¬ 
tion, which we hope will have been favorable to the celebration of the 
contract, because it is impossible that Congress will not agree with 


33 


Antioquia. 

your patriotic ideas, and second your efforts. And we believe this 
with so much more security, since the proposed railroad will not only 
benefit the State of Cauca but the whole Nation, because the State of 
Cauca is an integrant part of it; because with the increase of commerce 
and industry, the Custom House rents, that enter into the treasury of 
the Union, will be augmented ; because this road is the beginning of 
the great central railroad that will traverse the whole country; because 
this railroad will belong to the Union after a certain number of years; 
and finally, because the public Administration will be more easy, as the 
country becomes united with these bands of iron. 

Citizen President: You have performed your duty as a good Magis¬ 
trate ; the contract that you have celebratad, and that gives motive to 
this manifestation, has attracted to you the sympathy of all the inhabit¬ 
ants of the State, and endeared you to the hearts of every Caucano. 

General Salgar left us, as a remembrance of his honorable Admin¬ 
istration, the Capitol of Bogota nearly finished, and several telegraphic 
lines established. You will leave the railroad from the Pacific to the 
river Cauca, greatly advanced. 

If the future Administrations follow your example, and that of your 
predecessors, to what height of progress will not our country reach 
within ten years ! 

Receive, Citizen President, the sincere thanks that we give you for 
your beneficent action in this matter, and accept the fervent votes 
that we make for your individual felicity, and for the adoption of 
your measures for the Government of the Union. 

Cali, 10th May, of 1872. 

The Vicar of Cali, Angen Piedrahita, the Mayor of Cali, Fomas 
Renjifo, hundreds of other names follow. 


ANTIOQUIA. 


Translation of an article published in Bogota, in the “Illustration” of June 8th, 1872, No. 486 
in reference to the Cauca Railroad and its relation to the commerce of Antioquia. 


ANTIOQUIA AND THE PACIFIC (CAUCA AND BUENAVENTURA) RAILROAD. 


The importance of the realization of this enterprise, with which is 

5 






34 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

connected the steam navigation of the river Cauca, which navigation 
extends nearly to the boundary line separating the States of Cauca and 
Antioquia, should attract the serious attention of the industrious popu¬ 
lation, and of the Government of the State of Antioquia; to prove 
which is the object of this article, which we hope will be kindly re¬ 
ceived and considered by those interested. 

The 180 miles that separate the city of Cartago from the port of 
Buenaventura, when these cities are connected by steamboat and rail¬ 
road, will be as nothing; and this connection will virtually bring the 
State of Antioquia to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

How little would remain to be done to reach by rail Manizales, 
Salamina and Abejorral ? Very little. 

But there are other observations to make. Antioquia now sends to 
Cauca every year many thousands of dollars worth of foreign dry goods, 
imported through the port of Carthagena. The current of this trade 
will be reversed when the Cauca Railroad is constructed, and Antio¬ 
quia will import her dry goods through Buenaventura; and the com¬ 
merce of the city of Medellin, the capital of Antioquia, will suffer a 
decrease of about half a million dollars annually — since, instead of 
sending merchandise to the valley of Cauca, it will receive the same 
from there. For which reason, it seems to us that the work on the 
wagon road, that is now in process of construction from Medellin 
towards the river Magdalena, should be suspended till it is positively 
known whether the Cauca railroad will be constructed or not. 

In making this suggestion, we take in account the following consid¬ 
erations : 

First — The distance between Medellin and the Magdalena River is, 
by far, greater than the distance from Medellin to Cartago. 

Second — The distance from Cartago to Buenaventura is, by far, less 
than the distance from any port of the Carribean Sea or on the Atlantic 
Ocean, to the point where the Antioquia wagon road will meet the 
Magdalena River. 

Third — That when the inter-oceanic canal be in operation, it will 
be the same to come from Europe to Buenaventura, as from Europe to 
Carthagena. 

Fourth —That even in the case of ships going around Cape Horn, 
or through the Straits of Magellan, the freight will reach Medellin 
more cheaply through Cauca than through Carthagena, because long sea 
voyages cost always relatively much less than short ones. 


Letters. 


35 


Fifth —That a road made from Medellin to the valley of Cauca, will 
serve both for the interior commerce between the two States, and for 
the foreign commerce of Antioquia, whilst the wagon road that is now 
in construction to the Magdalena, will only serve for the foreign com¬ 
merce. 

Sixth —That a good road from Medellin to the Cauca, will be of 
great importance to all the Antioquia population south of Medellin, and 
also to the city of Antioquia, and to the population of the western 
bank of the river Cauca. 

Seventh — That a good road from Medellin to Cartago, will follow 
the natural current of the emigrating population of Antioquia, that 
always moves towards the State of Cauca. 

We therefore believe, that, if the Cauca Railroad is constructed, 
political, social and economical considerations demand that the imme¬ 
diate attention of the people of the State of Antioquia be directed 
towards the Pacific, and require that the wagon road, that is nowbeiDg 
constructed towards the Atlantic, change its direction, from towards 
the river Magdalena to towards the State of Cauca. 

A FRIEND OF ANTIOQUIA. 


LETTERS. 


LETTER FROM REV. T. F. WALLACE, IN CHARGE OF U. S. LEGATION. 


Bogota, July 12th, 1872. 

Messrs. Smith and Modica :—In compliance with your request, 
I will state as briefly as I can, my opinion in regard to your project 
of building a railroad from the port of Buenaventura, on the Pacific, 
across the western cordillera of the Andes to the nearest point on the 
Cauca River. You, as a matter of course, have examined the route 
sufficiently to enable you to say whether it is possible to build the road. 
As to its practicability, you ought also to be able to judge pretty cor¬ 
rectly, as you have spent sufficient time in the State of Cauca to gather 





36 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

reliable and abundant information respecting the resources of this 
part of the Republic of Colombia. I have resided in this country ten 
years, and have taken some pains to inform myself in regard to its re¬ 
sources, and have no hesitation in assuring you that, in my opinion, 
not only the Cauca Valley, but also the mountainous and upland por¬ 
tion of the State, far surpass any other districts of equal dimensions in 
the U. S. of Colombia, in agricultural and mineral resources. For 
fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, and beauty of landscape, the 
Cauca Valley is admitted, by all travelers who have visited it, to equal, 
if not surpass, any other portion of territory of equal extent in the 
world. As yet it has had no outlet for its productions, and if a rail¬ 
road from Bogota to some point on the lower Magdalena 200 miles in 
length, most of it through a broken mountain district, and much of it 
through a dense, unhealthy wilderness, is practicable, as it is now con¬ 
sidered to be by the English engineers who have almost completed a 
survey of the route, then there remains no doubt, in my mind, as to 
the practicability of your proposed road in Cauca. Your road, of 45 
or 60 miles, will open up easy communication with the Pacific Coast 
to a territory equal in extent, and much superior in variety, quality, 
and I may safely say, quantity, of its resources, to that of the above- 
mentioned road. 

Your line will not only receive the traffic of the rich valley of the 
Cauca, but also that of all Southern Antioquia, and Western and 
Southern Tolima. Besides, there is probably no other portion of this 
Republic that will offer as great inducements to immigration as the 
portions that will be found within easy communication with your road. 
On the coast of the Pacific, lying to the south of your proposed line, 
there is an extensive belt of land comprising every temperature above 
freezing point. And I am creditably informed that the table and high 
lands in this district are healthy and remarkably fertile. One impor¬ 
tant advantage which these lands have, over many others in the 
country, for immigrants, is their proximity to the sea, thus enjoying 
the sea breezes, and affording also the possibility of reaching them 
with only a few hours travel through the narrow, but hot and some¬ 
what unhealthy tract of land lying along the coast. 

But it is not necessary for me to call your attention to these facts, 
which must be as well known to you as to me. I imagine that your 
difficulty in persuading capitalists in the United States to invest in such 
an enterprise, will arise from the false impression, I am sorry to say 
too general there, in regard to the character of the peoplo in this Re- 


Letters. 


37 


public. During a late visit to the United States, I was surprised to 
find many persons, well informed as to other parts of the world, labor¬ 
ing under the delusion that this country was inhabited, in great part, 
by savages, semi-civilized Spaniards, and hordes of banditti. It is true, 
as you have no doubt seen, that there is still a fearful amount of ignor¬ 
ance and fanaticism among the poorer classes in the rural districts and 
small towns, and as an inevitable consequence, the people lack energy, 
and are able to show few evidences of any very encouraging efforts in 
the way of material progress. However, a system of public schools, on 
the German plan, has lately been inaugurated, and is already being 
carried into operation. The General Government is determined to 
sustain the public schools; and once their influence is brought to bear 
upon all classes of society, ignorance, fanaticism, indolence, must die 
out, just as certainly as darkness must give place to light. After your 
experience in traveling through the country, you must agree with me 
that, even in no part of our highly enlightened land, can more harm¬ 
less and hospitable people be found. This may not be true in regard 
to one or two places in the country; and I think it but just to say, 
that in no other part of this Republic can such a class of people be 
found as that, composed of mulattoes and negroes, on the Isthmus of 
Panama, where we have heard so much about lawlessness and riots, 
and I have but little doubt that the opinion held in the United States, 
in regard to this country, has been formed in great part from what 
has occurred from time to time on the Isthmus of Panama. The lower 
classes there do not really belong to this country, having come, for the 
most part, from Jamaica and others of the West India islands. So 
that the foreigner who passes across the Isthmus of Panama, or 
even spends a few days at Carthagena or Sant Martha, and then 
judges of the character of the rest of the people in the Republic by 
what he sees in these places, will get an impression as incorrect as it 
will be unfavorable. In the Capital of the Republic, as well as in the 
Capital of the different States and large towns in the interior of the 
country, there are institutions of learning, many of them largely en¬ 
dowed, in which not only the sons of the wealthy, but also of those in 
moderate circumstances, receive quite a liberal education. And I am 
safe in saying that the degree of culture found among the better 
classes in these centres, is equal, at least, to that found in many larger 
cities, either in Europe or America, where infinitely superior advantages 
are enjoyed. In closing this disconnected, and I fear not very satisfac¬ 
tory statement, I will only call your attention to one other fact, which 


38 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

I consider an encouraging one, in regard to your enterprise, and it is 
this : That the intelligent and land-holding portion of the people of 
Cauca are not only unanimously in favor of the railroad, but really 
enthusiastic on the question; it has been their dream and earnest de¬ 
sire for years. This being the case, there is nothing to fear from the 
poor laboring classes, even supposing them unfavorable to the project 
(which I have no reason to believe is the case), for they are prover¬ 
bially the most law-abiding element of society here. 

Yours Truly, 

T. F. WALLACE, 

U. S. Consul in charge of American Legation at Bogota. 


LETTER TO MR. DAVID R. SMITH. 

Buenaventura, August 9th, 1872. 

Mr. David R. Smith, Peoria: 

My Esteemed Friend : — I judge that my sincere felicitation for 
the happy result of your efforts to obtain the privilege and contract for 
the Cauca Bailroad, could not have reached you in Bogota. This 
result is entirely due to the persevering character that distinguishes 
you as a good son of the North, and to the talent that you have shown 
for getting around the grave difficulties that have obstructed your way. 

Although ignorant and envious enemies endeavor to inspire discon- 
fidence in the public mind, in regard to the realization of the enter¬ 
prise, those of us who have sustained and assisted you (plural, meaning 
Smith and Modica,) from the beginning, continue maintaining the 
enthusiasm in the faith of its realization, because we have full confi¬ 
dence now, as always, in the sincerity of your promises, and in the 
honesty of your pledges to make every possible effort to have the con¬ 
tract carried into effect. 

We look to you as the ancient Jews looked to Moses; and it is 
necessary that you exert yourself to bring out soon, very soon, the 
people of Cauca from this wilderness of uncertainty and expectation. 

It is my duty to assure you that you have inspired very general con¬ 
fidence, and I hope, and believe, that you will not allow these hopes to 
be frustrated. 

For my part, I do not doubt that you will continue to devote your 
earnest and serious attention to the matter. And desiring your happy 



Letters. 


39 


and immediate return to this country, that I await with hope and 
anxiety. 

I remain your most affectionate friend, 

Q. B. S. M. 

P. S. This Custom House will produce this year $180,000. Ac¬ 
cording to the movement over the road during the last six months, the 
amount of freight for this year will be 4,300 tons, and the number of 
passengers 2,000. 


LETTER TO DR. JOAQUIN CAICEDO. 

Buenaventura, 8th August, 1872. 
Dr. Joaquin Caicedo, New York : 

Dear Friend : — By letters from Mr. Vasquez Cordoba, I know 
that you have undertaken a voyage to the United States of America, 
with one of the Cauca Railroad contractors, and that you ordered your 
correspondence to be sent to the house of Ribon & Munoz, 63 Pine St., 
New York City. 

I send with your letter one to Mr. Smith, from the Superintendent 
of the Buenaventura road. I am very glad that you have gone with 
the contractors. 

Here everybody is afraid that the railroad may not commence in the 
island where the port of Buenaventura is, and also that the railroad 
may not terminate at or pass through Cali, but that it will go directly 
to the river Cauca, without touching the city. 

This would be a mortal blow to both populations, especially for this 
one, which, being on an island, will remain without possible communi¬ 
cation with the line, except at great expense, which will make it im¬ 
possible, or at least unprofitable, to live in it, occasioning an immense 
loss to those who, at so great a cost, have succeeded in building and 
maintaining this town ; whose houses have each cost a capital, on 
account of the high wages and the high price of materials. 

It is to be desired that neither of the two things that we fear should 
happen; but if it is impossible to prevent such a result, I should like 
to have you make it known confidentially to me, because the commer¬ 
cial house that we have established here, has purchased two lots of 
land, and we think to build upon them; but if the railroad will not 
commence here, we will stop the work, to avoid losing any more money. 

Yours, truly, * * * 



40 


Gauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company . 


PERUVIAN BARK. 


Great opposition was made to the celebration of the 
contract, on account of the proposed grant of Govern¬ 
ment lands, by the “ Quineros,” merchants who deal 
in Peruvian bark. These merchants are rapidly acquir¬ 
ing large capitals. The bark is collected generally on 
Government land, and is exported in large quantities. 
These patriotic gentlemen imagined that a powerful 
Company, having a right to so much land, which it 
could select where it pleased, having a large capital and 
extensive commercial relations, in fact, having superior 
means and facilities in every respect, would monopolize 
the bark business, or at least make a strong opposition 
to or competition with these thirty or forty capitalists 
that, to-day, actually do monopolize the business 
themselves, particularly as a large proportion of the 
best bark lands are within the reserve from which the 
C. V. M. &> C. Co. is to select its lands. In this con¬ 
nection, see the following: 

LETTER TO DR. JOAQUIN CAICEDO. 


Translation of a letter written in Popayan, and sent to Bogota, when the basis of contract was 
presented to Congress by President Murillo. 


Popayan, May 15th, 1872. 

Dr. Joaquin Caicedo : 

My Dear Friend : — With the greatest pleasure, I have received 
your letter, dated the 1st inst., and the contract for the railway. 

The enthusiasm is great. The news arrived here, yesterday, and 
immediately, at the suggestion of Aparecio Reboledo, several merchants 
got together to write a petition to Congress, soliciting the approbation 
of the basis, and thanking President Murillo. In the evening we met 
and wrote the petition, of which Rebolledo sends the original by mail. 
We will have it published this week, with as many signatures as can 





Correspondence with the Secretary of State. 


41 


be obtained. As the time has been so short, we have collected, until 
now, only about 300. 

There is no doubt that Congress will approve the contract, and so I 
hope to see you here very soon. 

I have discovered that the articles written here in Popayan against 
the railroad, in the “ Estrella del Cauca,” are from * * * * * *, and 

not from Camacho, as people believed. 

Since the Company has one million of hectaras of land, I suggest the 
following for their consideration : 

Great Peruvian bark woods have been discovered in the range of 
mountains that look towards the Caqueta. The bark is of a superior 
quality, and the entrance to that place must be by the village of “La 
Cruz,” in the State of Cauca, and also by “ Pitalilo ” and “ Timana,” in 
the State of Tolima. 

This business may produce 60 per cent, interest annually. These 
new found bark woods are the lands that Messrs. Sarabia Ferro & 
Duran requested from Congress to be given to them, under pretext 
of making a mule road through the mountain of “ las Papas.” Their 
petition was denied. I do not know the boundaries of the land, but I 
know the quality of the Peruvian bark taken from there. 

If, then, Mr. Smith thinks that the Company will like to enter into 
the business of exporting Peruvian bark, he may take those lands, and 
the profits will be extraordinary. Yours, 

* sfc * * * * * 


CORRESPONDENCE WITH SECRETARY OF 

STATE. 


To the Honorable Secretary of State , 

(Haciendo y Fomento), 

g IR ; —After signing the contract for the construction of the railroad 
from the Pacific to the river Cauca, I consider it my duty, in the inter¬ 
est of the Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company, to collect 
all the facts and statistics, official and extra official, that will tend to 
give to the Company an exact idea of the fiscal resources, the economic 
6 




42 Gauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

situation, the natural elements of production, and of wealth, and even, 
perhaps, minute particulars in regard to the institutions of Colombia. 

With this motive, Mr. Secretary, I take the liberty, though with 
much reluctance, to distract your attention from your many and im¬ 
portant occupations, and beg of you, at your earliest convenience, the 
following official information: 

First —What is the part of the Custom House receipts of Buenaven¬ 
tura, Tumaco, and Rio Sucio, that is to-day free, and what part is to 
become free in succeeding years ? 

Second—How much will said free port probably amount to in the 
present year, and how much in the years to come, supposing that the 
development of the country proceeds, not with the rapidity that is ex¬ 
pected as a result of the railroad, but supposing the development to 
proceed according to the progress of preceding years, as shown by the 
corresponding statistics ? 

Third —And, finally, as the official note of the Colombian Minister, 
in Bremen, of the 6th of February, of the present year, No. 17, published 
in the “Diario Official/’ on the 25th ultimo, No. 2576, represent that the 
capitalists in Germany hesitate to invest their money in Colombia, on 
account of the law-suits and difficulties that have been connected with 
the Bolivar Railroad; and as these rumors may likewise influence the 
members of the C. V. M. & C. Co., notwithstanding that I have been 
privately informed and assured that all has been satisfactorily arranged 
between the Government of Colombia, and the Railroad Company men¬ 
tioned, I still wish to be able to present to the C. V. M. & C. Co., 
official evidence of the fact, and for this reason I request of you, if you 
esteem it convenient to furnish them, the official information that, in 
your opinion, would conduce to the desired object of inspiring confi¬ 
dence. 

I cannot terminate this note, Mr. Secretary, without acknowledging, 
in the highest terms, the good will and decided interest that you, as an 
honorable member of the present Administration, have manifested for 
the railroad from the Pacific to the river Cauca, and at the same time 
offer to you my sincere thanks for the heroic patience with which you 
have attended to us during the course of the negotiation—a 
sacrifice on your part, that has been of a very great importance 
in the elaboration of the details of the contract that was signed by us 
on the 6th of the present month. And the country will certainly be 
indebted to you, in great part, for the good results that may be ob¬ 
tained therefrom. 


Letter to Mr. David R. Smith. 


43 


I am, sir, with the highest consideration, your attentive servant, 


Bogota, July 8th, 1872. 


DAVID B. SMITH. 


ANSWER. 


Estadas Unidos de Colombia, 

Poder Ejecutivo Nacionai. Secretaria de Estado, 
Del Despacho de Haciendo i Fomento, Numero 178. 


Seccion 5 

Ramo de Fomento. 


Bogota, July 13th, 1872. 

Mr. David R. Smith , 

Representative of the Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company : 

I take pleasure in answering the note directed by you to this de¬ 
partment, bearing date the 8th of the current month, asking for certain 
official information relating to the contract signed for the construction 
of a railroad from the Bay of Buenaventura to the river of Cauca, in 
the Sovereign State of the same name. In presenting to you that in¬ 
formation, I will follow the numerical order indicated in your note. 

First —The only part of the products of the Custom House of Buena¬ 
ventura, Tumaco, and Rio Sucio that is not to-day free, is the 371 one 
hundredths part, that is destined, by virtue of former laws and agree¬ 
ments, to the payment of the interest on the foreign debt. So that at 
this time, 621 one hundredths part is perfectly free. Moreover, in 
virtue of arrangements with the owners of the bonds of the said foreign 
debt, initiated under the authorization of the recent laws about the 
foreign and interior public credit, (eredito publico exterior i interior), 
it is probable that the entire product of said Custom Houses will 
become at once free , and the Executive is making every effort in his 
power for that purpose. 

Second —The before-mentioned Custom Houses have given, during 
the last nine months of the current economic year, according to the 
satistics that exist in this department, a gross product of $152,225.25. 
Taking this as a base, the probable product in the three remaining 
months will be $50,741.75. That will .give a total product during the 
present economic year of $202,967. Deducting the possible 371 per 
cent, there remains a free net product of $136,855. 

Having in view the statistics of the products of the above-mentioned 
Custom Houses during eight years, from the 1st of September, 1864, 
to the 31st of August, of this year, it will be found that the products of 
these Custom Houses have increased during this lapse of time 54 per 
cent. This increase has been moderate, owing to the prostration in 
which the country remained after a long revolution, and to the habits 
contracted by its inhabitants opposed to the development of industrial 



44 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

pursuits, and the consequent paralyzation and diminution of commerce, 
but it is not at all venturesome to believe and assume that the products 
of the Custom Houses will increase from year to year, in proportion to 
the increasing love for peace and industry that is now animating the 
people of the country, the continuation and development of which they 
now look upon as a matter of imperious necessity; and if to this we add 
that the freedom that exists in the ports of Buenaventura and Tumaco 
will cease in virtue of the dispositions of the law of the 21st of June, 
ultimo, additional and reformatory of the Custom Houses, we have every 
reason for expecting that the products of the above-mentioned Custom 
Houses will increase in a much greater proportion than that already 
expressed; and without taking into consideration the increase that would 
result from the construction of the railroad (the effect of the railroad 
on the product of the Custom Houses would be incalculable), but only 
taking into consideration the natural increase of the population and of 
industry. 

Third —With relation to this part of your note, it would be desirable 
that you acquire an exact idea of the origin of the judicial controversy 
in which the Bolivar Bailroad Company has been engaged, because a 
knowledge of the facts will demonstrate the aid and security that the 
Government, as well as public opinion, offers to this class of enterprises 
in this country. 

The State of Bolivar conceded to Messrs. Ramon Santo Domingo 
Vila and Ramon B. Jimeno, a privilege to construct a railroad between 
Sabanilla and Barranquilla. Afterwards the General Government 
celebrated a contract with Messrs. Percy Brandon and Nicholas 
Jimeno Collanto, in which they were offered a guarantee of 7 per cent, 
on a capital of $600,000, if they carried into effect the construction of 
the said line of railroad. This contract was approved by Congress, on 
the express condition that the Messrs. Brandon and Jimeno Collanto 
should prove, before the Executive Power, that they had acquired the 
rights conceded by the State of Bolivar to the Messrs. Santo Domingo 
Vila and Ramon B. Jimeno. 

Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno organized a company in London 
that was denominated the Bolivar Railroad Company, limited; which 
company was not able to carry into effect the construction of the rail¬ 
road, nor did it even present itself for recognition by the General 
Government. 

Then the Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno celebrated a contract 
with Mr. Julio Hoenigsberg, of Barranquilla, with the object of having 


Letter to Mr. David R. Smith. 


45 


him go to Europe, and perfect the organization of a company that 
would construct the railroad. Mr. Hoenigsberg, with full powers 
from the Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno, went to Europe, and 
made an arrangement with the Bolivar Railroad Company, in virtue 
of which he became owner of the rights of that company, and made the 
organization in Bremen that carried into effect the continuation of the 
work. 

Upon the return from Europe of Mr. Hoenigsberg, the Messrs. 
Santo Domingo and Jimeno represented and manifested, to the Execu¬ 
tive of the Nation, that they had assigned and transferred all their 
rights in connection with the privilege, to the new company organized 
in Bremen ; and in virtue of this manifestation, the Executive recog¬ 
nized this last as the contracting company or party. Months after¬ 
wards, the Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno presented a second 
manifestation to the Executive of the Nation, representing that their 
first manifestation had been drawn from them by Mr. Hoenigsberg by 
means of deception; that he had represented to them, by word of mouth 
and in writing, that in the use of the power that they had conferred 
upon him, he had, in celebrating the contract or arrangement in 
Europe, perfectly secured all the rights that belonged to them; and 
the Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno further represented that they, 
giving full faith to the statements of Mr. Hoenigsberg, had not vacil- 
ated in making the former representation or manifestation before the 
Executive, but being convinced that Mr. Hoenigsberg was laughing 
at them, having deceived them for the purpose of obtaining the afore¬ 
said declaration or manifestation before the Executive, they declared 
that, for their part, they had never transferred any part of their rights 
in connection with the privilege, and demanded that the Executive 
resolution, by which the Bremen company was recognized as owners 
of the privilege, should be declared null or revoked. 

The Executive did not accede to this demand of the Messrs. Santo 
Domingo and Jimeno, and, in accordance with the Attorney General 
(Procurador General), maintained the original resolution, in which 
the Bremen company was recognized as owners of the privilege, &c.; 
and also declared that if Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno believed 
themselves aggrieved, that they might seek the vindication of their 
rights before the judicial power. 

Messrs. Santo Domingo and Jimeno attempted, then, a succession of 
judicial actions against the railroad company and their agents in this 
country; and in the course of these actions, or law-suits, the company 


46 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

has had no reason to complain, either of the judicial tribunals of the 
State of Bolivar, or of the National Government. 

On the contrary, the company has encountered every facility for carry¬ 
ing into effect the enterprise, and received decided support and assist¬ 
ance, as is manifested in the promptitude with which every question has 
been decided by the Executive Power; the prompt recognition, at the 
solicitation of the company, of the amount of capital invested in the 
work, and immediate payment of the amount due the company on 
account of interest guaranteed to the enterprise; and, finally, the good 
will manifested, and interest shown by the Executive, in the celebra¬ 
tion of a contract that put an end to the question raised between the 
Government and the company, about considering the placing of tug 
or transfer boats in the Bay of Sabanilla, as a part of the enterprise of 
the railroad company. 

For the rest, in no country in the world have they been able to 
prevent the occurrence of judicial questions or law-suits like the ones 
above-mentioned. These law-suits arose entirely from the fact that 
the parties, who obtained the privilege from the Government, and the 
new Company did not arrange the business between them in a clear 
and well defined manner, before beginning the execution of the work. 
In everything that depended upon the Government, the enterprise has 
been thoroughly protected without altering the course of the admin¬ 
istration of justice, whose decisions have been, up to the present time, 
favorable to the Company. 

That the facts that I have described are not understood in all their 
details in Germany, is undoubtedly the cause of the bad impressions 
that the report of the existence of a law-suit has left upon the minds 
of the Germans—law-suits for which the Government is in no manner 
responsible. Moreover, it may be reasonably hoped that, as soon as 
these details are known, all these bad impressions will vanish, and that 
they will recognize in favor of the Government the rectitude of the 
principles that guide it, its interest in the development of new enter¬ 
prises, and the persevering efforts that it is making to give the greatest 
security to enterprising foreigners that desire to come and seek in this 
country occupation for their capital. 

In regard to the final part of your note, the Government duly appre¬ 
ciates the amiable expressions contained therein, in regard to the 
conduct of the person in charge of this department in the celebration 
of the contract for the construction of a railroad between Buenaven¬ 
tura and the river Cauca; and for that reason you will permit me to 


Railroad from the Bay of Buenaventura to the River Cauca. 47 

manifest to you that, in having observed such conduct, there is no 
more merit than in fulfilling the duties imposed by the laws and by 
public opinion, for the aspirations of the public as well as of the Gov¬ 
ernment are fixed and determined in the direction of material improve¬ 
ments in the territory of the Republic, for the grand and lasting good 
that must result from them as they develop the resources and increase 
the prosperity of the country. 

I hope to have satisfied your wishes with the information that this 
note contains, and hope that it may prove sufficient to secure the object 
that you expressed in soliciting it. 

I am, your attentive servant, 

AQUILEO PARRA. 


THE RAILROAD FROM THE BAY OF BUENAVENTURA 
TO THE RIVER CAUCA. 


ITS LENGTH. 

The American engine, Conquistador, on the Arequipa Railroad, of 
Peru, weighed, when loaded, thirty-four tons. This engine hauled, 
including its own weight, in gross tons, up a gradient of 211 feet per 
mile, (4 per cent., or 1 in 25), with poor fuel and bad water, a load of 
173 tons, at a speed of 10 miles per hour, over a track built by Amer¬ 
icans, in the American cheap style; guage of road, 4'8Y , « Any 
respectable American engine builder will contract to build, for a 30 
inch guage railroad, an engine that will haul, in gross tons, including 
its own weight, up a 4 per cent, grade, 80 tons, at a speed of nine 
miles per hour. Therefore, a line of 30 inch guage railroad, in which 
the maximum grade is 4 per cent., and the average grade 3 per cent., 
or 160 feet to the mile, may safely be considered practicable. 

The distance, in a straight line, from the Island of Buenaventura to 
the summit of the Cordilleras, is 30 miles, and the distance from the 
summit to the river Cauca is 7 miles. The height of the summit is 
5,000 feet; the height of the river Cauca is 3,000 feet. The distance 
required, with an average grade of 3 per cent., to reach the summit, 
would be about 32 miles, and the distance required to descend to the 
river, would be about 13 miles; or, the whole distance required, with 




48 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

an average grade of 3 per cent., from the Island of Buenaventura to 
the river Cauca, would be 45 miles. The coast range of the Cordil¬ 
lera runs north and south, separating the valley of the Cauca from the 
sea. Spurs from this range extend westward towards the coast. For 
the location of this road, there is a choice between two of these spurs, 
both of which terminate at the water's edge, in the Bay of Buenaven¬ 
tura, and there will be no difficulty in locating a practicable line for a 
cheap narrow guage road, that will not exceed 60 miles in length. 

GRADES. 

No difficulty will be experienced in adopting any grade determined 
upon. 

CURVES. 

The curves will, for a cheap line, be many and sharp. 

EARTHWORK. 

The line, for the most part, will wind around and along very steep 
side hills, and will, on account of their steepness, be comparatively 
expensive. But few or no deep cuttings or fillings will be required. 

ROCK CUTTING. 

Along two-thirds of the route, there is no rock to be found. The 
other third may be said to be rocky many kinds, from granite to slate, 
may be seen. 

TUNNELS. 

None positively necessary, but perhaps economy may require the con¬ 
struction of several. 

BRIDGES. 

One of 60 feet span if the road crosses the Dagua, and not one if 
the road is located, as it probably will be, entirely to the north of that 
river. 

CULVERTS. 

Many culverts and viaducts will be required, particularly near the 
coast, on account of the almost incessant rains. 

TIES. 

Timber that will resist the climate is found in unlimited quantities 
along the first twenty miles of the line, and at intervals along the whole 
line. Guayacan, for ties, can be readily and cheaply contracted for at 
any point on the line, and exists in superabundance all along the first 
twenty miles. 


Railroad from the- Bay of Buenaventura to the River Cauca. 49 

THE SURVEYS. 

A belt of forest, twenty miles wide, penetrable only with the aid of 
the axe or macheta, consisting of trees of thousands of varieties, and 
every size, covered with parasites and interlaced with millions of 
tangled vines, fringes the coast of the Pacific. This forest forms a 
cloak or mask to the topographical features of the country covered by 
it, that defies the eye of the engineer when he seeks to examine those 
features. Even if he cuts his way to the summit of a hill or ridge, and 
climbs the highest tree, and succeeds in finding a place where he can 
look out upon this sea of verdure, he will find himself unable to form 
a distinct and satisfactory idea of the surface of the ground that he is 
looking over. The surface of verdure exposed to his view, is so uni¬ 
form in its colors and shades, that he is as much at a loss as if the 
whole country was buried fifty feet deep in snow, and he was looking 
out upon the white surface of the snow ) besides, the atmosphere is so 
hazy that he can only see a few miles either way. 

This coast is not unhealthy for persons who live in houses and take 
care of themselves, but it is to the traveler or other person who exposes 
himself to the rain, or the moist night air, &c.; and sickness and death, 
too, is sure, if the exposure is continued. The fevers contracted in this 
neighborhood are of a mild type and easily got rid of by escaping from 
the low to the high lands, or by good care, in good houses, even in the 
low lands. 

Each party of engineers employed on the survey should have about 
ten extra men (natives), with axes, hatchets and machetas , (large 
knives), to clear the way. These men do not suffer from the climate, 
but all those of the party who were not born and raised in the neigh¬ 
borhood must be relieved at least every three weeks, and go to the 
Cauca Valley to recruit. Life in these woods would not be at all dis¬ 
agreeable if it was not for the fevers, as the climate is delightful to the 
senses, and persons who are engaged in such employments as will allow 
them to change as often as necessary from the hot lands to the temperate, 
or cold, like the low and hot country very well. 

These circumstances referred to will make the survey of this road 
very expensive. The exploration and location of the line would cost 
at least fifty thousand dollars, and perhaps more. 

HEALTH OF THE LABORERS. 

After the line is located, and an opening one hundred feet wide 
made through the forest by clearing off the timber and undergrowth, 

r 


50 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

there will be no trouble on account of sickness, and the few who may 
sicken can readily be sent to the high lands to recruit. The rain belt 
is co-extensive with the timber belt. Escaping towards the mountains 
from one, you escape from the other at the same time. 

OBTAINING LABORERS. 

It is believed that without any especial effort, four thousand good 
men can be obtained from the interior by paying one dollar per day. 
These men can be obtained much more readily after the work has 
fairly commenced than before. To get a large number of men together 
in Buenaventura on short notice, it would probably be easier to ob¬ 
tain them along the coast; and just at this time so many men are 
employed on other roads that it might be necessary or convenient to 
import a few Chinese. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

The road may be built so as to comply with all the requirements of 
Article I. of the contract, in the cheapest manner possible, with nar¬ 
row road-bed, with steep slopes—leaving the slopes to be dressed by the 
weather, wooden trestle-work in the deep ravines, for which the 
material is right at hand of the very best quality and in extraordinary 
abundance, leaving permanent banks and expensive masonry to be 
inserted after the road is completed and the wood shows signs of decay. 
The lightest suitable iron may be used, to be replaced as worn out in 
the course of ten years by the fifty pound rails demanded by the con¬ 
tract, and wooden bridges and viaducts, to be superseded at leisure, 
during the same ten years, by the iron ones required by the contract. 

BUSINESS OF THE ROAD 

All the exports and imports of nearly a million of people, inhabiting 
an area of about 40,000 square miles, must go over this road. This vast 
extent of territory is absolutely unequaled in its natural resources and 
elements for producing national wealth by any other territory of the 
same extent on the face of the earth. It is unjust to say simply that 
its soil and climate are unsurpassed, when it is an absolute fact that 
they are unequaled in the world. For the details under this head read 
the accompanying documents. 

The Colombians enjoy, the most political liberty, and most liberal 
government in the world, not excepting the people of the United States 
of America. Individual security is nearly perfect. To quote from a 
recent report of the Secretary of State : 

“ Not owing to the police, nor to the tribunals, nor to protective 


Railroad from the Bay of Buenaventura to the Cauca River. 51 

authorities and laws, but to the amiable and pacific character of the 
population. 

“ Without police, without gas-light, without soldiers, and nearly 
without authorities in the rural districts, people walk the streets and 
travel the roads in the most perfect security, day or night. 

“ The death penalty was abolished and attrocious crimes have dis¬ 
appeared/’ 

“ Imprisonment for debt was abolished, and the security for creditors 
has increased.” 

The standing army was reduced to the utmost limit, and the national 
public order has been preserved more firmly than ever.” 

The people are amiable and kind, energetic and educated, very 
polite and agreeable, strict observers of the rules of etiquette, and con¬ 
sidering their industrial condition, are the best dressed people in the 
world. There are more black silk hats, and black broad-cloth coats, 
black silk umbrellas, and black kid gloves used in Bogota than in any 
other city of equal population in the world, perhaps. They have no 
machinery, and consequently few manufacturers. They export little, 
because they have no roads; produce and import little, because they 
cannot export, are poor, because they have no machinery, no manu¬ 
factories; produce little, export little, and import little. They were 
poor and ignorant and oppressed, but brave and patriotic. They 
fought for and obtained their liberty, free institutions, and, above all, 
a perfectly free press. They recognized the value of education, and 
have now a very large class highly educated, with normal schools 
in every State, and free schools everywhere. The large 
populations are on the higher lands, where the climate is 
temperate. All these high lands, with a temperate climate, are 
separated from the sea by chains of mountains, or by extensive tracts 
of low hot country. They want roads; they have tried and are trying 
to build them. They have not yet been able to connect their large in¬ 
terior populations with the sea-coast, because the building of cart and 
mule roads in that country is nearly as expensive as the building of 
cheap railroads; and the distances and expenses have been so great 
that their means have been insufficient to force them; and their lack of 
the habit of association among individuals, as informing joint stock 
companies, &c., has heretofore prevented their being built by private 
enterprise. The government revenues have been so small that after 
paying the interest on the public debt and current expenses, little or 
nothing was left for public improvements. They have been in the con- 


52 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

dition of a man owning a large tract of land with no improvements, no 
tools and no money to buy either tools or material with which to make 
improvements; but since the great revolution, which ended in 1863, 
and secured to them the admirable government that they now enjoy, 
they have been steadily improving both in wealth and character. 
They have now about 750 miles of telegraph, about 60 miles of rail¬ 
road, and the last Congress has passed the necessary laws to make 
certain arrangements with the creditors of the Nation, by which the 
Custom House rents will remain free, with which the Government will 
guarantee the interest on the foreign capital that may seek investment 
in that country. The amount of travel over the present route 
From Cali to Buenaventura (there is only a road a part 
of the way) cannot be considered as a basis even for our 
calculations of what the railroad travel will be, because it is so 
exceedingly dangerous that no woman or child will pass over it, except 
when obliged to, and the cost of transportation is more than the value 
of almost all kinds of produce that can be raised and would otherwise 
be exported in great quantities from the Cauca Valley. The amount 
of the produce of the Cauca Valley to-day, is only a very small frac¬ 
tion of what will be produced the very first year the railroad is in opera¬ 
tion. It costs to-day $400 to transport a piano from Buenaventura to 
Cali, and $600 to Popayan, and there are about twenty pianos in Cali 
and about sixteen in Popayan. Heavy machinery it is impossible to 
introduce; and this is the reason that they have no steamboats on the 
Cauca River. The railroad will introduce the steamboat and open up 
150 miles of river navigation through the heart of the valley to feed 
the rail road. Can any one doubt, in view of the facts that are thus 
hastily presented in this publication, (see the other documents) that 
the railroad from Buenaventura to the Cauca will do a splendid business ? 
The coal of the Cauca Valley is inexhaustible, and will become at once 
an article of transportation to the coast. 

The packing and transportation of sugar and similar articles, from 
the nearest point on the Cauca river to the port of Buenaventura, costs, 
to-day, four cents per pound nearly, besides, the articles are exposed 
to the risk of repeated wettings, by the upsetting of the canoes in the 
river Dagua. In fact, owing to the rain and river, the packages must 
be entirely impervious to water, or their contents will be sure to get 
wet. Sucre is a town situated about 12 miles, in a straight line, from 
Buenaventura. It is the present terminus of the mule road, where the 
transhipment is made from mules to canoes, and vice versa. The cur- 


Railroad from the Bay of Buenaventura to the River Cauca. 53 

rent of the Dagua is so rapid that it would be simply impossible for 
inexperienced persons to reach Sucre from Buenaventura by their own 
efforts. The navigation is performed in very small canoes, propelled by 
experienced men (negroes) called “Bogas,” by pushing against the river 
bottom with poles. Their performances are truly wonderful. Hum¬ 
boldt, or some one else says, in relation to them, that u Their every 
movement is a wonder, and every thrust of their poles a miracle.” 

The ascent from Buenaventura, in these canoes, is performed in two 
days generally, but when the river rises, the time is uncertain. A 
canoe, with its two “Bogas,” can be chartered for ten dollars usually. 
They will carry, if necessary, two passengers and a hundred pounds of 
baggage; the passengers must sit or lie down in the bottom of the 
canoe. Of course the descent is very rapid, but more dangerous than 
the ascent. 

The tolls over the mule road that terminates in Sucre, amount to 
about $25,000 per annum. This road has cost the Nation over one 
million of dollars, but all the work that has been done on it, could 
have been done by contract for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
This road, and all that appertains to it, will be turned over to the C. 
V. M. & C. Co., as soon as they commence their work. The day that 
twelve miles of the railroad are completed, connecting Sucre with 
Buenaventura, and doing away with the navigation of the Dagua, a 
new era will have dawned upon Cauca, and a complete revolution have 
been effected in her industrial condition. And that twelve miles of 
railroad will have plenty of business, on account of the increased pro¬ 
duction and exportation, due to the greatly decreased expense and risk 
in transportation — due to having gotten rid of the navigation of the 
Dagua. 

THE WILD LANDS OF THE COMPANY. 

The reserve from which these lands are to be selected, embraces 
what will become, when this railroad is completed, among the most 
desirable in the world. A glance at the map will show their extent 
and location. For their quantity, and the conditions of the grant, 
read the contract. 


OTHER LANDS. 

The Company can secure very valuable tracts of land along the line 
of the road, by concession from the rival parties that desire that the 
road should pass their way, perhaps. 


54 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

FELICITATION SIGNED BY ALL THE CAUCA SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES. 

To the Governor of the State of Cauca: 

Sir: — The Senators, Plenipotentiaries and the Representatives of 
the State of Cauca have the exceptional pleasure of announcing to the 
Honorable Governor, that the Legislative Camaras, of which we form a 
part, have approved, with trifling variation, the basis of contract agreed 
upon with Smith and Modica, for the construction of a railroad be¬ 
tween the Bay of Buenaventura and the river Cauca. With this basis 
the Honorable Governor is already acquainted, and our satisfaction is 
greatly increased by the knowledge that the distinguished citizen, to 
whom this is addressed, has worked for years to establish a rapid com¬ 
munication between the Pacific and the interior of the State of Cauca. 

We have been exceedingly gratified at the enthusiastic acceptation 
or approbation that the State Government has given to the ac¬ 
tion of the General Government. This approval, besides showing the 
high character of the Honorable Governor, approves, at the same time, 
the action of the undersigned, Representatives of the State of Cauca, 
who have given their unanimous vote in favor of the contract. 

All that is now wanting is that the Convention, that will meet on the 
first of next month, unites its sovereign voice to that of the executive, 
and to ours, in order that all the Legislative Powers of the Nation may 
with one accord lend all their legal force to encourage and 
assist this enterprise—the realization of which now seems to be secure. 
We do not doubt, and if necessary we would beg of the Honorable 
Governor, that he would not only solicit of the Convention its ap¬ 
proval of the action of the Governor of the State in reference to this 
matter, but also the passage of such laws as would secure to the enter¬ 
prise all the favor and aid that the State can lend it. 

With sentiments of the most distinguished consideration, we have 
the honor to subscribe ourselves of the Honorable Governor, his most 
attentive servants, 

Jesus Maria Lopez, Andres Ceron, Jose Maria Quijano Walis, 
Manuel D. Camacho, Evanjelista Leon, Benjamin Pereira G., Fer¬ 
nando F. Garzon, Rafael Arboleda, Froilan Largacha, Ramon Pereira, 
Buenaventura Reinales, Manuel de Guzman. 

Bogota, 16th of June, 1872. 

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER DIRECTED TO DR. CERON, SENATOR FROM CAUCA. 

“ The pleasant news reached us on the 21st instant, that Congress 



Cauca Railroad. 


55 


had approved the railroad contract by a telegram to Cali via Cartago. 

“ The rejoicings in Cali were so excessive as to give the idea that the 
people had gone mad, and we were not much behind them here. On 
the 23d there were many rounds of artillery, music, illuminations, 
speeches, sentiment, wit; many drinks of all kinds—fine, and others 
not so fine, vivas, and enthusiastic demonstration generally. 

“ If this enterprise of such grand importance for incipient Cauca, is 
realized in the terms of the contract, we may feel sure that our road to 
wealth and prosperity has at last opened, &c., &c., &c. 

“ RAFAEL GARCIA, N ” 

“ Popayan, June 25th, 1872.” 


EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM THE EX-SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BUENAVEN¬ 
TURA ROAD TO DAVID R. SMITH. 

° You will excuse me for suggesting to you the advantage of begin¬ 
ning, as soon as possible, the actual work of construction. 

“ On the day that the work is commenced, the present company will 
deliver over to you everything that it. possesses, among which figures 
the present road with its warehouses, &c. This road and the principal 
warehouse together, produce a gross amount annually of more than 
twenty thousand dollars. 

“ The expense of administration and maintenance, and all other ex¬ 
penses, do not amount to over eight thousand dollars annually. 

“ Consequently, as soon as the new company begin the work, they 
count upon a net income of at least twelve thousand dollars from the 
old road, &c., &c., &c. 

“ MANUEL W. CARVAJAL.” 

“Buga, June 29th, 1872.” 


CAUCA RAILROAD. 


TRANSLATION OF AN ARTICLE FROM THE “DIARIO OF CUNDINAM ARC A,” PUB¬ 
LISHED IN BOGOTA, UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA, S. A., THE 8th OF JULY, 1872. 

No. 764. 


We know that the day before yesterday, the contract for the con- 






56 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


struction of a railroad from the Pacific to the river Cauca, was signed 
by the Secretary of State and Messrs. Smith and Modica; and we 
know, also, that Mr. Modica, with his wife, has started for New York, 
carrying the contract with him. 

Mr. Smith will stay in the city until the 15th for the purpose of 
collecting some statistics. 

In the proper section of this newspaper our readers will find an article 
showing the beneficent results that this enterprise will give to Colom¬ 
bia, to the State of Cauca, and to the Company. 

We have confidence that the patriotic hopes, founded on the proba¬ 
bility of the realization of the Cauca Railroad, will not be disap¬ 
pointed. 

Translation of the article to which the preceding refers : 

CAUCA RAILROAD. 

Signed, as it is, the contract for the construction of a railroad from 
the Pacific to the river Cauca, and for the steam navigation of said 
river, we hope that this important enterprise will be soon realized, and 
serve as a basis for several other enterprises that the moral and 
material progress of the country will demand. 

The vast and rich territory that is to be benefited by that road, 
merits well our attention, and as complete a description as possible, to 
make it duly known to and appreciated by our readers, both in our 
Own and in foreign countries. 

The part of the territory of Colombia to which we refer, possesses 
extensive coasts on the Pacific, extensive mountain ranges, and very 
beautiful valleys. 

The Pacific coast is watered by very many rivers, nearly all naviga¬ 
ble by steamers, from the river Patia to the San Juan, and it has 
the inestimable advantages of being healthy, though it is yet covered 
with woods ; and it has no marshes or stagnant waters. All the rivers 
flow off into the sea without overflowing their banks. And this must 
be the reason why locustus fish, that so much abound on the Atlantic 
coast, are not to be found in the Pacific. As a proof of the salubrity 
of the western coast of the country, we must always remember that 
yellow fever has never been in Buenaventura, but when imported 
from somewhere else by infected ships, and that even then its perma¬ 
nency has been but very short. The temperature of the western 
coast is also lower than that of the northern, which must be attributed 
to the continual southwest breezes, and to the extensive forests. 


Cauca Railroad. 


57 


That extensive coast, so provided with bays, coves, and splendid har¬ 
bors, is also rich in gold mines, and possesses some of the most fer¬ 
tile lands to be found in the world. The excellency of its tropical 
productions are well known, though agricultural industry can hardly 
be said to exist; and the products of its mines are of some relative 
importance, though the best methods for the exploration of mines are 
not known to the inhabitants. 

Many hundred thousand inhabitants could profitably inhabit the 
coast of Western Colombia, making use of its rivers for steam navi¬ 
gation. 

In no country in the world is better timber for naval architecture 
to be found, nor in equal abundance. Ship and dock-yards may be 
constructed there, enough to provide for all the demands of the com¬ 
merce and navies of North and South America. Those magnificent 
woods may give to Peru and Chili all the timber they require, both 
those countries being poorly supplied with that indispensable product. 
And this could be an extensive branch of commerce that would employ 
capital and labor upon a great scale. 

Besides the timber for construction, among which some undecaying 
wood is to be found, as that called chachajo , and some that is by lapse 
of time, converted into stone, like the guayacan. Different classes of 
wood proper for furniture are also found, as for instance the beautiful 
quende , (the best in the world) that belongs exclusively to this region. 
Nor less abundant are the dye-woods, such as brazil and mora. 

The caucho , vanilla , sarsaparilla , Maria balsam ., carana balsam , 
copaiba , and many other medicinal drugs are scattered everywhere, 
only waiting for the hand of man to be converted into gold. 

Those immense woods that seem to be solitary, are alive with droves 
of quadrupeds and flocks of birds of every description. 

The rivers abound with innumerable and various species of fish, that 
by themselves could support an immense population, offering an 
agreeable and healthy food. 

Such are the most prominent characters of the natural elements of 
wealth with which the western coasts of Colombia abound, which coast 
will be placed by the railroad, in immediate contact with the rich and 
beautiful valley of Cauca, that we are going to describe. 

II. 

THE VALLEY OF CAUCA. 

Two parallel ranges of mountain form the magnificent valley irri¬ 
gated by the river Cauca: the western, that separates the valley from 
8 


58 Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 

the Pacific, and the eastern, that divides the valley of Cauca from that 
of the Magdalena River. The foot of the mountains is covered with 
natural pastures, to an elevation of about 5,000 feet above the level of 
the sea, and from that point upward the mountains are covered with 
woods. 

From these mountains abundant water flows to the Pacific, to the 
river Cauca and to the Magdalena, all pure and wholesome, not exist¬ 
ing one single spring that may not fulfill both these conditions. Those 
that run into the valley of Cauca, may also be easily adapted to irriga¬ 
tion, (that in this country perhaps is unnecessary), and they represent 
besides a strong capital, as an hydraulic motor of great economy and 
power. 

In both ranges of mountains the soil is very fertile, of which fact 
it is very easy to be satisfied, by crossing them, and seeing the sugar 
cane, the wheat, the banana, the Indian corn, the apple trees, and the 
para and guinea (magnificent grasses introduced from Africa), grow¬ 
ing together. 

It seems really a prodigy, that plants from so different latitudes 
may have found a common country to live in; but this may be seen at 
Sa,lento , a small village situated in the heart of the central chain of 
mountains that separates the Cauca from the Magdalena River, over 
the road that goes from Cali to Bogota, as well as in Pavas, a small 
village situated near Cali, in the road from Buenaventura, and, in 
fact, at almost any other place. 

The Peruvian bark, the cauchu or Indian rubber, numerous palm 
trees, valuable for the oil and wax that are extracted from them, and 
also numerous dye woods grow upon the mountains, that are no less rich 
in gold, silver, iron and coal, frequently showing themselves at the 
surface of the earth. 

Very high summits covered with perpetual snow, such as the Purase, 
the Huila, the Quindio and the Ruiz , show themselves at intervals, 
and allow a man to choose the climate most suitable to him, from the 
intense heat of the coast, to the extreme cold of the regions of perpet¬ 
ual snow. The existence of more than 200,000 inhabitants living 
among these mountains, in the most healthy condition, shows by itself 
that these mountains are wonderfully fit to be colonized and cultivated 
on an immense scale. 

III. 

SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THE VALLEY OF CAUCA. 

The valley of Cauca may be considered as divided in two parts, one 


Cauca Railroad. 


59 


higher and one lower : the former, in which is located the picturesque 
city of Popayan, capital of the State, is situated at 1,800 yards above 
the level of the sea, and has a length of 90 miles from north to south, 
by 12 miles from east to west. This part of the valley is particularly 
well adapted to the cultivation of cereals and coffee; for cattle breeding, 
especially for sheep ; and abounds in laurel icax and many other valua¬ 
ble products that are found wild. The lower part of the valley is 
more than 120 miles long, by 15 to 18 wide, at an elevation, average 
height, of 1,100 yards above the level of the sea, and as the declivity 
of the land from south to north is not considerable, the river Cauca 
offers a magnificent canal for steam navigation. 

This splendid valley, that has been called by Bolivar and others 
“the Italy of South America,” on account of its beauty, its salubrity 
and its fertility, is now peopled with more than 200,000 healthy, 
laborious, intelligent and peaceable inhabitants. Wealth is pretty well 
distributed, and this affords convenience to the great majority of the 
people, whose morality and good behavior are duly appreciated by 
those who visit that country. 

The principal cities are : Cali, Palmira, Cart a go, Santander, Cer¬ 
rito, Buga , Roldanillo , Soro and An&erma , without counting many 
other towns of less importance. 

Towards the North, and contiguous to the rich State of Antioquia, 
lays the rich province of Supia, in which, besides the famous vein 
gold mines of Marmato, that have been worked by an English com¬ 
pany for about 30 years, with great profit to the company, several 
other mines are also worked with great profit. This province lays to 
the left of the river Cauca , at the foot of the western chain of moun¬ 
tains, opposite to the Choco, a place known to be the land of gold 
from the very first settlement of the country by the Spaniards. 

All the towns of the valley are situated at small distances from the 
river Cauca, so that it is sure all the interior traffic from Cartago to 
Santander, (120 miles), will be made by the river, when navigated by 
steam. And these steamers, of small relative expense, will, in our 
opinion, give so great a profit, and will be of so great service to com¬ 
merce, that we do not hesitate to predict, that in a few years, forty 
steamers, of 200 tons each, will not be enough to satisfy the demands 
of commerce. 

The navigation of the river Cauca for more than 120 miles, connec¬ 
ted with the railroad, will be of great benefit to the enterprise, cheap¬ 
ening transportation through the valley, will encourage and increase 


60 


Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company. 


commerce and production, greatly augmenting, of course, the business 
of the road. 

The navigation of this river for 120 miles, presents to the Com¬ 
pany the means of great profit, without great additional cost, not 
only along the line of the railroad, but also 120 miles more. That is 
to say, that by constructing 50 or 80 miles of railroad, and a few boats, 
the Company will control 200 miles of rail and river, and command 
the entire commerce of this splendid country. 

The fertility of the valley of Cauca is unparalleled; the sugar cane 
and cocoa plantations last, without replanting, the life of two genera¬ 
tions ) the Indian corn and other grains give always two crops a year, 
and the coffee, cocoa and banana plantations produce, without interrup¬ 
tion, during the whole year, there being with reference to these plants, 
no other sign of the time of harvest, than a more abundant production 
of the fruit. 

It is curious and interesting, to see a single tree, covered with 
flowers and fruits in different states of growth, in the same day. 

Great herds of cattle feed in the extensive natural pastures of the 
valley of Cauca, and mules and horses are abundant. 

The climate in the lower part of the valley is from 63° to 86° 
Fahrenheit, and its soil well adapted to tropical produce, amongst 
which the tobacco of Palmira , the indigo, coffee, sugar, cocoa and 
others are well known in European markets. 

The valley of Cauca is imprisoned, and it is necessary to open the 
gates, and present it to the world at the shore of the sea. The world 
needs it, and we are sure that it will pay back a thousand fold the price 
of its ransom. 

IV. 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE NEIGHBORING STATE OP ANTIOQUIA. 

Towards the north of Cartaga, the two ranges of mountains join, and 
from there towards the North commences the State of Antioquia, with 
a population of upwards of 200,000 inhabitants, that carries on an 
active commerce with the Cauca, and when the railroad is constructed, 
it will give to the people of that State the best route to the coast. 
To be convinced of this assertion, it is only necessary to look at the 
map of Colombia. 

y. 

SOME MORE TERRITORY AND POPULATION TO BE SERVED BY THE 

RAILROAD. 

Besides the 200,000 inhabitants of the valley of Cauca, and the 


Cauca Railroad. 


61 


200,000 of Southern Antioquia, that will be benefited by the railroad 
immediately, we must speak in this review of upwards of 200,000 in¬ 
habitants who populate the southern part of the State of Cauca 
These people will be tributary to the Cauca Railroad. All their ex¬ 
ports and imports must go over this road, and when we take into con¬ 
sideration the fact that nothing can stimulate the production of a sur¬ 
plus except a market, and that this road gives a market to the most 
productive valley on the globe, we can hardly over estimate the impor¬ 
tance of this undertaking. 

VI. 

CONCLUSION. 

We have thus, in general terms, endeavored to give an idea of the 
necessity of this railroad—of its probable business, and its prospects. 

It will give a market to nearly a million of people. It will bring 
vast and wonderfully fertile territories to the highways of the world, 
and give to the North, at greatly reduced rates, all the productions 
of the tropics. 

Besides this, the country is filled with mines of every description, 
that are waiting to fill with wealth the hands that open them. These 
mines, this soil, these splendid opportunities, are asleep in this beauti¬ 
ful land, but the whistle of the locomotive will awaken all. 


CATALOGUE 

Of some of the samples of productions of the United States of Colombia, to be seen at the office 
of the Cauca Valley Mining and Constructing Company, Peoria, Ill. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

1. Samples of Coal from the 

State of Cauca. 

2. Samples of Coal from the 

State of Cauca. 

3. Samples of Coal from the 

State of Cauca. 

4. A list of the Minerals of An- 

tioquia, exhibited at the 
“ Exposicion ” in Bogota, 
1872. 

5. Ore. 

6. Ore. 

7. Kaoline—a white earth. 

8. Sulphur — found in great 

abundance in Gachala. 

9. Iron Pyrites. 

10. Sulphate of Lime. 

11. Lead Ore. 

12. Slag (Iron). 

13. Natural Glass—colored with 

Magnesia. 

14. Guante—a mineral. 

15. Iron and Lead. 

16. Copper Ore. 

17. Galma. 

18. Coral. 

19. Lime. 

20. Carbonate of Lime. 

21. Sulphate of Lime. 

22. Iron Ore. 

23. Galma. 

24. Copper. 

25. Fossil. 


TEXTILES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 

26. Bark of the Burriara. 

27. Bark of Trees. 

28. Paper Fibre—bark of the 

Girocarpus Americanus. 

29. Bark of Maurico. 

30. Che veche. Bark. 

31. Wild Silk. 

32. Maguey Fibre. 

33. Moriche Palm. 

34. Fibre and cloth of the Cunare 

Palm. 

35. Three samples of the Na- 

cumai and Jipijapa—from 
which Panama hats are 
made. 

36. Hope of Magagua Blanca. 

34. Wild Cane. 

35. Pepino Estropajo. 

36. Cloth of Pita. 

37. Pita—leaf or stalk of Ma¬ 

guey. 

38. Maguey Fibre—finest class. 

39. Maguey Twine. 

40. Vegetable Wool and Silk— 

several classes. 

41. Maguey Pita—different pre¬ 

parations. Pita is the fibre 
of a plant similar to the 
Maguey, but longer, firmer, 
whiter and stronger than 
the Maguey fibre. 

42. Cocoons—wild and cultiva¬ 

ted. 





Catalogue. 63 


42. Silk. 

43. Four Cotton bolls, of 54, 

taken from one plant in 
one day. 

44. Cotton. 

45. “ 

46. “ 

47. “ 

48. “ 

49. “ Sea island, raised seven 

leagues from the sea. 

50. “ 

51. Beans. 

52. Coffee. 

53. “ 

54. Rice. 

55. Coffee. 

56. Cacao. 

57. Coffee. 

58. “ 

59. “ 

60. “ 

61. “ 

62. “ 

63. “ 

64. “ 

65. « 

66. Cacao. 

67. « 

68 . “ 

69. Corn. 

70. Wheat. 

71. “ 

72. “ 

73. Beans. 

74. Broom Corn. 

75. Anis. 

76. Bean. 

77. Two ears of Corn. 

78. Wild Cacao. 

79. Bean from tree. 

80. Cacao. 

81. “ 

82. Wild Coffee. 

83. Coffee—selected. 

84. “ from same, but not 
selected. 

85. Guaduas. 


86. 

Beans (native). 

87. 

Ajonjole. 

88. 

Millet. 


89. 

Coffee. 


90. 

Wool- 

-peculiar to the'coun- 


try. 


91. 

Tobacco. 

92. 

Tobacco Leaf. 

93. 

a 

a 

94. 

a 

a 

95. 

a 

Roll. 

96. 

a 

Leaf. 

97. 

a 

a 

98. 

a 

Chewing. 

99. 

a 

Leaf. 

100. 

Rye. 



DYE STUFFS AND MISCELLANEOUS. 


101. Green Dye. 

102. Justa Razon. 

103. Brazil Wood. 

104. Dyes—Chibca. 


105. 

a 

Tutu vera. 

106. 

a 

Coralina. 

107. 

a 

Bizbita. 

108. 

a 

Chilca. 

109. 

a 

Yellow. 

110. 

a 

Red Bine. 

111. 

a 

Purple Cujaca Leaf. 

112. 

a 

Chilca Leaf. 

113. 

a 

Biguvina Chica. 

114. 

a 

Dividivi. 

115. 

a 

Cochinilla. 

116. 

a 

Quincho. 

117. 

a 

Carmine. 

118. 

a 

a 

119. 

a 

Guenegue. 

MEDICINAL AND MISOELLANEUOS. 


121. Canafistola—laxative. 

122. Fresno Bark—astringent. 

123. Wild Pareira—diuretic. 

124. Sarsaparilla—alterative for 

syphilitic complaints. 

125. Estoraque Bark—aromatic. 

126. Peruvian Bark—febrile. 

127. Jaboncello or Quai. 

128. Cardoncillo—alterative for 

scrofula. 



Catalogue . 


64 


129. Juarumo—cosmetic emoli- 

ent. 

130. Paraguai—sudorific. 

131. Hongo—for stopping hemor¬ 

rhage. 

132. Cedron or Valdevia—febrile 

antidote for snake poison. 

132. Cedron—doubtful. 

133. Clavellina-sudorific. 

134. Barbasco—for destroying in¬ 

sects. 

135. Coca—tonic. See Ures dic¬ 

tionary. 

136. Aristolocbia, 

137. Smilax China—sudqrific. 

138. Holy Mary Leaf—alterative 

to cure ulcers. 

139. Ricino—purgative. 

140. Picapica Antielmintico. 

141. Capitano de Clavo—antidote 

for snake poison. 

143. Zea—purgative. 

144. Gruaco—antidote for snake 

poison. 

145. Guayaquil—alterative, cures 

ulcers. 

146. Copaiba—anti-blenoragico. 

147. Ipecacuana—emetic. 

148. Mangle—from which tur¬ 

pentine is extracted. 

149. Chain Vine or Monkey Lad¬ 

der—cures urinary difficul¬ 
ties. 

150. Mate—for the teeth. 

151. Almacigo—cures megrim or 

neuralgia. 

152. Eye Vine—antioftalmico. 

153. Tooth Root—cures tooth¬ 

ache. 

154. Holy Mary Root—cures 

toothache. 

155. Goat’s Beard—caustic. 

156. Orin de Perro—for broken 

bones. 

157. Vencemico—anti-rheumatic. 

158. Malambo “ 

159. Cundurango—panacea. 

160. Tolio Wood—pectoral. 


161. Marinow Seeds—for leprosy. 

162. Doradillo—for the liver and 

spleen. 

163. Escoyonera—to cause an 

abundance of milk. 

164. Carito—emetic. 

165. Cedron. 

166. Oxeye—to cure the piles. 

167. Tolee Balsam—pectoral. 

168. Priest Bark—purge. 

169. Mambi—quick lime chewed 

with coca by the Indians. 

170. Mameicillo—febrile. 

171. Pesin of Pulgande—emena- 

gage. 

172. Justa Razon — emitic and 

purge. 

173. Cundurango—panacea. 

174. Vaina Ua—aromatic. 

175. Petrolium 

176. Gum Anime. 

177. Resin of Currucai. 

178. Resin of Gurrupayo. 

179. Resin of Cobalto. 

180. Resin of Chivechi. 

181. Beans. 

182. Bread Fruit. 

183. Leark and Bark of Quina— 

Peruvian bark. 

184. Almischillo—for rattle snake 

bites. 

185. Galbano Leaves—to stop 

hemorrhage. 

186. Halan—to kill fish. 

187. Cuisbeto, or Zaragozo—for 

rattle snake bites, cusniste 
alterative for syphilis. 

188. Zaragoza Vine — used for 

rheumatism. 

189. Chick Weed. 

190. 

191. Vanilla Beans—aromatic. 

192. Suelda con Suelda—to stop 

hemorrhage. 

193. Avilla—resolutivo. 

194. Vegetable Soap. 

195. Chilinchile Coffee — stoma- 

cal. 



Catalogue. 


65 


196. Almizchillo—aromatic. 

197. Quinua—to make drinks like 

Orchata. 

198. Mosquero—the flower arom- 

otic and the root purgative. 

199. Ulanda—antimetroragico. 
^200. Guayacan Bark—sudorific. 

201. Cortadera—an animal that 

eats of it will, vomit blood 
and die. 

202. Caratero—contra obesity. 

203. Sassafras—aromatic and su¬ 

dorific. 

204. Pinonos—drastic purgative. 

205. Esporyilla Colaquintis—dra¬ 

stic. 

206. Necha—gives a caustic oil. 

207. Tembladero—it will cause an 

animal that eats it to trem¬ 
ble violently. 

208. Camaspora—emetic and pur¬ 

gative. 

209. Gualandai—anti-syphilistic 

alterative. 

210. Cuasia Cups. 

211. Copalchi—astringent. 

212. Copaiba Bark—antiblenoma- 

goci. 

213. Cainca—purgative. 

214. Pela. 

215. Ratania—astringent. 

216. Capartapi Oil — for insect 

bites. 

217. Quina (Peruvian bark) — 

febrile.' 

218. Quina Tuna—febrile. 

219. Quina Yellow—febrile. 

220. Latibuco—aromatic. 

221. Gum Anime. 

222. Goma de Payande - pectoral. 

223. Curebano—aromatic. 

224. Pinon Oil—purgative. 

225. Chimilas - emetic and pargu- 

tive. 

226. Dragons Blood—astringent. 

227. Bitter Stick—estomacal. 

228. Cascara de Mantica—Ver- 

mifugo. 


229. Ariza—to stop hemorrhage. 

230. Tomillo—aromatic. 

231. Barraja—sudorific. 

232. Birabira—antiblenorrsjiao. 

233. Culantrillo—pectoral. 

234. Alhucema—for spasms. 

235. Peonias. 

236. Ginger. 

237. Failejon—gives a resin. Is 

found on high cold lands. 

238. Viravira — to stop hemor¬ 

rhage. 

239. Mastuerzo. 

240. Langumaria—emenagago. 

241. Carana—resinosa. 

242. Ratania—astringent. 

243. Vanilla—aromatic. 

244. Chain, or Monkey Vine— 

anti-disenteric and stops 
hemorrhage. 

245. Chibasa—cosmetic. 

246. Goat Thorn—febrile. 

247. Creosote—stimulent. 

248. Guaco Vine—contra snake 

poison. 

249. Yuco—contra ulcers. 

250. Juasquin—alterative, contra 

syphilis. 

251. Cavalonga—febrile, poison. 

252. Olova—for skin diseases. 

253. Peruvian Bark—febrile. 

254. Cucaracho — for destroying 

insects. 

255. Granizo—is a sovereign 

remedy for diseases or com¬ 
plaints of the stomach, 
and is excellent in fevers. 

256. Toro Bark—emetic and pur¬ 

gative. 

257. Nitre—found in great abun¬ 

dance, in great caves. The 
workmen wash the earth, 
filter, crystalize, &c. These 
caves exist in several States. 

258. Malagueta — Estomacal is 

used for females as Ergot 
is, and is effectual, quick, 
admirable in its operations. 


9 



66 


Catalogue. 


259. Carmestotendo—contra 

smoke; poison. 

260. Kino—astringent. 

261. Allspice—aromatic. 

262. Holla de Mono — (monkey 

pots) comestible; very curi¬ 
ous. 

263. Vegetable Ivory—tagua. 

264. A Belim Mat. 

DYE STUFFS AND MISCELLANEOUS. 

265. Dye from the Bovielic tree. 

266. Barrilla—red dye. 

267. Botatilla. 

268. Cochinilla — in its natural 

state. 

269. Brazil Dye Wood. 

270. Mora “ “ 

271. Bilibile Dye Wood. 

272. Tachuelo Molo “ “ 

273. Fique Root “ “ 

274. Chilca Leaf “ red. 

275. Dividive “ 

276. Shells of Dye-Fish. 

277. Coralito Dye. 

278. Achiote “ 

279. Zeramon Red Dye, and a 

cure for burns. 

280. Caro Fruit Dye. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

281. Petroleum. 

282. Nuts. 

283. Palm Tree Wax. 

284. Candles made from vegeta¬ 

ble wax. 

285. Laurel Wax. 

286. Palm Tree Wax. 

287. Iliguerilla. 

289. Nuts of the Castaneto — 

gives a fine illuminating 
oil; dissolves indiarubber, 
and the seed is an active 
poison used to kill dogs. 

290. White Sugar—worth in Bo¬ 


gota 8 cents per pound at 
retail. 

291. Chocolate—a sample of an 

article in general use. 

292. Chestnuts. 

293. Wild tea, indigenous to the 

country. 

294. Chocolate, adulterated with 

corn meal. 

295. Wild tea. 

296. Palm nuts. 

RESINS AND MISCELLANEOUS. 

297. Resin of Algoroba. 

398. “ “ Laurel. 

299. “ from the Poepa tree. 

300. “ of Hague. 

301. Vegetable Gum. 

302 Laurel Wax — one sample 
purified. 

303. California Wax. 

304. Resin Copal. 

305. Resino. 

306. Mani Wax. 

307. Vegetable Wax. 

308. Anime Turpentine. 

309. Copal. 

310. Anime. 

311. Incense. 

312. Gum of a tree. 

| 313. Cedar Gum. 

314. Anime. 

315. Algarroba fruit. 

316. Cancho. 

317. Brea. 

i 318. Galvano. 

| 319. Glue. 

320. Various 1 fiquors — Orange, 

Palm tree, and Wild Grape 
Wine, &c. 

321. Alpargatas—pita sandals or 

shoes. 

322. Majagua Cap. 

323. A wooden plate. 


INDIGO. 

15 Samples of the finest Indigo from different parts of the country. 





Catalogue. 


67 


CIGARS. 

2,000 Ambalima Cigars of twenty different kinds. 

WOODS. 

130 Samples of nearly a hundred distinct kinds of wood. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Several articles of manufacture, and other things, not enumerated above. 

MAPS. 

Magnificent maps of the Colombian Union, and maps of each separate 
State. 

' DOCUMENTS. 

Many Public Documents containing valuable and interesting statistics. 

































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